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EXERCISES ON WORDS. 



DESIGNED AS A 



COURSE OF PRACTICE 



RUDIMENTS OP GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC. 



BY 



WILLIAM RUSSELL, 

editor of the american journal of education, 
(first series.) 



BOSTON: 



AVHITTEMORE, NILES, AND HALL. 

MILWAUKIE : A. WHITTEMORE AND CO. 
1856. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

WILLIAM RUSSELL, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massa 

chusetts. 



IN PREPARATION, 

EHETOEICAL PRAXIS. 

A Series of Exercises for Advanced Students in Khetoric, hy 
the Author of ilie present Manual. 



andover: w. f. dkaper, 

STEREOTYPER AND PRINTER. 



i,9-3^ 



CONTENTS. 



I 



Introductout Observations. 

Plan of the Course. 

Exercise I. — Orthoepy 

Introductory Explanations. 

Eorms of Exercise. . . . . 

Suggestions to Teachers. . 

Suggestions to Students. 

Current Errors in Pronunciation. 

Rules of Orthoepy. . . . . 

The Pronunciation of Greek and Latin 

words 

The Authority of Walker, as an Ortho- 

epist. 

Words peculiarly liable to wrong Ac- 
cent, in negligent usage. 
Words on the Pronunciation of which 
the weight of authority is nearly bal 

anced. 

Exercise II. — Orthography. . . . 
Eorms of Exercise. 

Suggestions 

^ Words of variable Orthography. . 
Exercise III. — Syllabication. 

Introductory Explanations. 

Exercise 

Rules on Written Syllabication. 
Suggestions ■ 



7. 
13 
21 
21 
21 
22 
24 
25 
29 

38 
39 
41 



42 
44 
44 
45 
49 
53 
53 
56 
56 
57 



IV CONTENTS. 

Exercise IV. — Etymological Analysis. . . 59 

Introductory Explanations. . . 59 

Exercises. (1.) Prefixes. . . 62 

Suggestions to Teachers. ... 62 

(2.) Suffixes. .... 66 

Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs. . . 69 
(3.) Primitive and Derivative "Words, 

and Roots. .... 70 

Eorm of Exercise. . . . , 72 

Suggestions to Teachers. . . 73 

Exercise V. — Signification and Meaning of Words. 75 

Introductory Explanations. . . 75 

Exercise. 77 

Exercise VI. — Definition of Words. . . . 79 

Introductory Explanations. . . 79 

Exercise 81 

Suggestions to Students. . . 82 

Exercise VII. — Synonyms. 83 

Introductory Explanations. . 83 
Exercises. (1.) The collecting of Sy- 
nonyms. 85 

Example. 86 

(2.) Application of Synonyms. . 87 

Example. 87 

(3.) Definition of Synonyms. . . 91 

Example. 92 

(4.) Discrimination of Synonyms. . 94 

Examples 97 

Exercise VIII. — Supplying Ellipses. . . .101 

Exercise. 101 

Suggestions to Teachers. . . 101 

Suggestions to Students. . . 102 

Examples. 102 

(1.) Omission of Nouns. . . 103 

(2.) Of Adjectives 103 

(3.) Of Verbs 104 

Elliptical Exercise on Synonyms. . 105 



CONTENTS. V 

Exercise IX. — Variation op Expression. . . 107 

Introductory Explanations. . . 107 

Exercise. 110 

Suggestions to Teachers. . . . 110 

Suggestions to Students. . . Ill 

Exercise X. — Analysis op Composition. . . 115 

Introductory Explanations. . . 11.5 

Example 116 

Exercises. (1.) Logical Analysis : 

Theme, Topics, Method, Scope. . 118 
(2.) Rhetorical Analysis : " Ideas," 

" Eloquence," Style. . . .120 
(3.) Grammatical Analysis : Struc- 
ture, Phraseology, Choice of Words. 122 
Explanatory Observations. . .125 
Subjects for Exercises in Analysis. . . . 129 

Extract 1. Truth Bacon. 129 

" 2. Learning. . .... Id. 132 

" 3. Conditions of Study. . . . Locke. 134 

" 4. Love of Truth Locke. 136 

" 5. Aids to the Acquisition of Knowledge. Locke. 189 

" 6. Employment of Time. . . Addison. 142 

" 7. The Immortality of the Soul. . Addison. 146 

" 8. Wisdom of Providence. . - Addison. 150 

" 9. Good Intentions Addison. 154 

" 10. Paradise Lost Johnson. 157 

" 11. Metaphysical Poetry. . . . Johnson. 159 

" 12. Parallel between Pope and Dryden. Johnson. 163 
" 13. Advantage of reformatory over penal legisla- 
tion. . . . . . Goldsmith. 167 

" 14. Present Suffering enhances the prospect of fu- 
ture Eelicity. . . . Goldsmith. 170 

" 15. True Respectability. Benjamin Eranklin. 173 

" 16. Ridicule. . . Benjamin Franklin. 176 

" 17. The Ugly Leg. . Benjamin Franklin. 177 

" 18. Luxury, Idleness, and Industry. Franklin. 180 

1# 



VI CONTENTS. 

Extract 19. The Influence of professional Associations on 

the sense of Beauty. Rev. Dr. Alison. 184 
" . 20. The Beauty of the Human Form. 

Rev. Dr. Alison. 187 

" 21. Autumnal Reflections. Washington Irving. 191 

" 22. Female Character. Washington Irving. 194 
" 23. A voyage up the Hudson, in the olden time. 

Washington Irving. 196 

" 24. Poetry . William Ellery Channing. 199 

" 25. Permanence of Literary Monuments. , . 203 

Montgomery. 
" 26. Circumstances under which Milton wrote Para- 
dise Lost, and the Sonnets. Macaulay. 204 

APPENDIX 209 

Oral Lessons 209 

Introductory Explanations^ designed for Pupils sufficiently ad- 
vanced for the study of Grammar 209 

Lesson 1. — Language. .... , 209 

Lesson 2. — Thoughts, — Ideas. 210 

Lesson 3. — Propositions, — their Parts. . . . 211 

Lesson 4. — Sentences 212 

Lessons. — Clauses 214 

Lesson 6. — Phrases. 215 

Lesson 7. — Words, Syllables, Letters. . . . 216 

Lessons. — Orthoepy 217 

Lesson 9. — Orthography 218 

Introductory Explanations^ designed for very young Pupils* 219 

Lesson 1. — Grammar 219 

Lesson 2. — Language 220 

Lesson 3. — Words 221 

Lesson 4. — Compound Words 222 

Lesson 5. — Syllables. 223 

Lesson 6. — Letters. 224 



INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 



The following manual, published at the request of teachers 
who wish to adopt the methods which it exemplifies, embodies 
the first part of the Authors usual course of oral and written 
exercises, designed to accompany the successive steps of the pu- 
pil's progress in the study of our own language. The work is 
intended to aid in rendering the teaching of English grammar 
and the rudiments of rhetoric, a strictly practical course of train- 
ing, by leading the pupil to apply the principles presented in the 
oral instructions of his teacher, and the prescribed lessons of his 
grammatical and rhetorical text-books, to immediate use, in a 
series of written exercises^ requiring an attentive study and an exact 
analysis of words. The design of these exercises, in detail, may 
be seen, by reference to the plan of the course, on a subsequent 
page. It may be sufficient, here, to say, that the series comprises, 
in addition to practice in orthoepy^ the analysis of words with re- 
ference to their ortJiography and etymology^ their consequent signifi- 

(7) 



8 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 

cation^ their appropriate definitions^ their distinctive shades of mean- 
ing^ and their comparative value in expression. — This analytical 
course of study is accompanied by one of practical exemplifications^ 
in the appropriate and discriminating use of words, in phrases and 
sentences, with a view to prepare the young student for the correct 
and effective expression of his own thoughts, and for the right 
interpretation and reception of those of others, through the me- 
dium of language. A closing exercise in the analysis of composi- 
tion, is added, to complete the course of the study of words, by 
extending it to practice in the choice of expression, as an elemen- 
tary branch of rhetoric. Material for this and other exercises, is 
furnished in the selection of essays and extracts, from eminent writ- 
ers, whose style is marked by peculiar skill, or by felicity, in the 
use of language, with reference to a characteristic choice of words. 
The exercises prescribed in the following pages, are designed, 
principally, as a course of practice for classes occupied with the 
study of English grammar, or of rhetoric. They may be adapted, 
however, by oral instruction from the teacher, so as to furnish an 
interesting and useful preparatory training for pupils who are yet 
too young for the formal study of grammar. Examples of oral 
lessons of this description, may be found in the Appendix. Even 
the youngest classes of readers may be advantageously employed 
on the orthoepy, the orthography, the analysis and derivation, the 
definition and the use of words, and in the composition of phrases 
and sentences. The only point requiring the special assistance 
of the teacher, to enable the pupils of such classes to perform the 
whole series of these exercises, will be found to lie in the deriva- 
tion of words, and the recognition of their roots, when these are 
taken from the ancient or from foreign languages. This part of 
the word-exercises of young pupils, may, at the convenience of 
the teacher, be made matter of oral instruction from himself, or 



INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 9 

may be inscribed on the blackboard, by his own hand, or that of 
a pupil of advanced standing, till, by progress in years and capa- 
city, the learner can be classed with those who make use of a dic- 
tionary large enough to furnish the derivation of such words. 

It is unquestionably true, that one great fault in school train- 
ing, has, in past years, been the custom of commencing the for- 
mal study of grammar too early. The subject being, by this inju- 
dicious course, placed beyond the mental reach of the young be- 
ginner, could only be followed mechanically and listlessly ; and 
the mind, forestalled in its working, was precluded from the plea- 
sure which it might otherwise have enjoyed, by taking up the 
study of grammar intelligently and effectively, at a proper stage 
of its own development. The instructor has, too often, been 
anxious to teach the science of grammar before the pupil has had 
any opportunity^ of becoming acquainted with the facts and the 
principles of language. But these are the very ground on which 
the foundation of grammatical instruction must be laid : they are, 
in fact, — when systematically arranged and classified, — them' 
selves, the science of grammar, from which the ar-t of correct ex- 
pression is, in due season, to be drawn. 

The analytic method of presenting the subject of grammar, — 
originally introduced in the schools of Germany, subsequently in 
those of England, and, more recently, by Professors Alpheus 
Crosby and S. S. Greene, in those of our own country, — is doing 
much to revolutionise our modes of teaching, in this department, 
and to diffuse more philosophic and rational views on the whole 
subject of grammatical instruction. To the benefits, however, 
arising from the use of any text-book, an extensive course of 
practical grammar, requiring the actual study and use of language, 
in daily exercises, is an important addition, without which, little 
progress can be made towards the acknowledged end of grammar, 



1^ INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 

as the art of speaking and writing with propriety r^^ On the pro- 
cesses of actual training in the use of language we can hardly 
commence too early. The youngest pupil of a reading class, is 
ready not only for the exercise of framing simple and short 
phrases and sentences, but of learning how to study and use 
f words with discernment. His spelling-book, or his vocabulary, 
should, by the skill of his teacher, be converted into a rich cabi- 
net of specimens, which it is a delight to examine and to handle. 
A class of students, quite different in age and attainments from 
those just mentioned, will, it is hoped, find the course of exercises 
prescribed in the following pages adapted to the higher purposes 
of self-culture, with reference to the formation of style. The most 
critical knowledge of rhetoric, is of little service for the actual 
business of composition, much less for that of living instruction, 
when it is not followed by constant practice in expression, both 
written and oral. The few exercises in this department, which the 
routine of academic and college instruction demands, are utterly 
insufficient, as a preparation for the requirements of after life. 
Persevering personal application, for successive years, is the only 
condition on which a ready command of accurate and impressive 
language can be acquired. In this, as in any other art, it is the 
patient and repeated practice of elementary exercises, which alone 
can give expertness. Our existing modes of education, as re- 
gards our own language, are so exceedingly limited and imper- 
fect, that, in the course of nearly forty years' experience in pub- 
lic and in private instruction, in the department of rhetoric, the 
author of the present work has found few individuals, either among 
practical teachers, or the graduates of our colleges, whose lan- 



^ The Grammar of Composition, by Messrs. Tower a/id Tweed 
now furnishes a manual admirably adapted to the general purposes 
ot grammatical training, in practical forms. 



INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 11 

guage, would bear the test, when tried by the standard of mere 
grammatical or even orthographical accuracy. The exercises sug- 
gested, in this manual, to the student of rhetoric, may seem, some- 
times, of too elementary a character to be practically useful. 
But it is in these rudimental forms of culture and discipline, that 
our established forms of education are most deficient ; and prac- 
tice in these is what is most needed in the processes of training 
for the purpose of forming correct habit. 

Since the Author first adopted the following plan of exercises 
on words, in the year 1820, and published a part of it in his 
Grammar of Composition, in 1824, many valuable contributions 
to this department of education, have been furnished by eminent 
instructors, in England and in the United States. But, hitherto, 
these have been written on detached branches of the subject ; and 
they are accessible only in numerous separate volumes 5 — both 
of which circumstances are a serious inconvenience to the teach- 
er who wishes to give unity, and compactness, and tangible form, 
to his methods of instruction. — The present work, — as may be 
observed, from its form and plan, — is but a suggestive outline, 
to which the skill of the teacher and the diligence of the student, 
are to give life and value. With such aids, it will, the author 
hopes, prove useful in all seminaries in which English grammar 
and rhetoric are taught. Its highest purpose will have been fully 
served, if it help to attract, in any instance, an early and earnest 
attention to the study of the noble language which it is our privi- 
lege, as a people, to inherit and to use, and which certainly re- 
quires, in the processes of instruction, a degree, at least, of that 
sedulous attention to practical training, in its various forms, which 
every classical teacher claims as due to the proper study of the 
ancient languages. — No department of education furnishes a 
more excellent intellectual discipline than this for the young 



12 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 

mind, a more useful accomplishment for the purposes of dally 
life, or a more effective process for the cultivation and develope- 
ment of taste. An early intelligent appreciation of a language so 
copious, so forcible, and so varied in character as the English, 
ensures a discriminating and genuine relish, in after life, for the 
masterpieces of its unrivalled literature, so fraught with all the 
purest and most auspicious elements of moral influence. 

The study of language extends over so many and so widely 
different stages of education, that, to present an appropriately 
graduated series of exercises on words, it was necessary to em- 
brace a corresponding diversity in the subjects comprised in the 
present volume. To lay out the whole field of culture, in this de- 
partment, in its natural unity, and, at the same time, its proper 
extent, the plan must include matter adapted to strictly elemen- 
tary instruction, to successive steps of progress, and to advanced 
attainments. As a manual for teachers occupied with classes in 
all these diversified conditions, it became necessary that the fol- 
lowing pages should embrace a wide variety of exercises, from 
which individuals might make such selections as the circumstan- 
ces of their own classes might seem to require. An incidental aid 
was also to be proff*ered, in the plan of the work, to students pur- 
suing a course of self-culture in expression, by furnishing them 
with material adapted to their personal purposes. — These ex- 
planations will, it is thought, be sufficient to account for the great 
diff*erence of character in the contents of this volume, in which, as 
a mere handbook of exercises, considerations of symmetry and 
taste are necessarily sacrificed to the claims of practical utility. 



EXERCISES ON WORDS. 



PLAN OF THE COUESE. 

The object in view in the course of exercises 
prescribed in the following pages, is to secure a 
thorough knowledge and expert use of the words 
of our language, as regards, 

(I.) Orthoepy, or the correct pronunciation of 
words, as they address the ear. 

(IL) Orthography, or the correct mode of 
spelling them, in written form, presented to the 
eije. 

(III.) Visible Syllabication, or the proper 
mode of dividing words into syllables, to the eyej 
for the pm-pose of guiding the voice to the proper 
sound to the ear. 

Thus, the word rec-re-a-tion is properly so divided 
in the columns of the spelling-book, and in the or- 
thoepical columns of the dictionary, in which the in- 
tention is to suggest, through the eye, the oral divi- 
sion into syllables, as presented to the ear, in the 
orthoepy, or correct pronunciation of the word ; the 
term rec-re-ation having, by the law of usage, a 
meaning quite different from that of the term re- 
creation, 

2 (13) 



14 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

(IV.) Etymological Analysis, or the division 
of words into their component parts, according 
to their meaning suggested to the mind^ or the 
process of tracing the composition and derivation 
of words ; — (1.) resolving compound words into 
the simple words of which they are composed ; 
(2.) detaching the initial and final syllables of 
a word, according to their significance as prefixes 
and afiixes^ or suffixes ; and, (3.) tracing the root^ 
— the original term or syllable, — which is the 
main significant element of a word, and deter- 
mines its meaning and application. 

Thus, the ^vord used in a preceding paragraph, as 
an example of oral syllabication, when it is subject- 
ed to etymological analysis, and resolved into its 
component elements of signification, suggested to 
the mind, although properly pronounced rec-reation, 
is divided thus re-creat-ion ; re- being the prefix, -ion 
the svffix, and -creat- the root of the word. 

(V.) The Signification and Meaning of 
WORDS. Under the former of these heads is 
comprehended the exercise of tracing, wherever 
practicable, the import of a word to its primary 
sense, — the significance of its primitive elements 
of composition or of derivation : under the latter, 
that of stating the secondary, or actual sense, 
whether modified or otherwise, in which it is em- 
ployed in the current usage of our own day. 

We learn, thus, that the written word recreation 
signifying, originally, creating again, or anew, and 
originally pronounced re-creation, though subsequent- 
ly, rec-r cation, implies a reference to that newness, 
or freshness, of feeHng, which attends exercise 



PLAN OF THE COURSE. 15 

properly taken for relaxation or amusement, and 
causes the person previously worn out or exhausted, 
to feel as if created aneiv, — or, in customary phrase, 
" made over again." The actual current meaning- 
of the word, however, regards the act, rather than 
the purpose, of recreative exercise, and applies it in- 
discriminately to all forms of amusement, play, or 
sport, without reference to their effect on body or 
mind. 



(VI.) Definition, — by which the signification 
of a word is verified by reference to a description 
of the object, or a definition of the idea, which it 
represents. 

Thus, the word recreation may, in consistency with 
its etymology, be properly defined as the renovation 
of bodily and mental conditio^!, by change of occupa- 
tion; or, in accommodation to its customary accepta- 
tion, as exercise taken for purposes of pleasure rather 
than utility. 

(VII.) Synonyms. The exercises practised un- 
der this head, comprise, (1.) a collection of all the 
words of our language, which have nearly the 
same signification with that of a given word ; 
(2.) the application of these, individually and dif- 
ferentially, in phrases or sentences so worded 
that no other member of the given family of sy- 
nonyms could, with propriety, be substituted for 
the one embodied in the illustration ; (3.) the de- 
finition of synonyms, by a common general term, 
used as a test to prove their general unity of mean- 
ing, by their actual relation to one and the same 
primary idea, expressed by that term in its most 
comprehensive sense; (4.) the discrimination of 



16 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

synonymous words, by a statement of the distinc- 
tion founded on the specific difference of their im- 
port, evolved by logical definition. 

Of these four forms of exercise the following may 
serve as examples. 

(1.) Collection of Synonyms. — "Recreation," — - 
exercise, diversion, relaxation, amusement, enter- 
tainment, interlude, pastime, play, game, sport, frolic. 

(2.) Application of Synonyms, — " It is not enough 
that we allow sufficient time for rest, and for relaxa- 
tion from the severity of intense application. Both 
body and mind require recreation, to renew their 
vitality and restore their energy, when wearied or 
worn by monotony, or exhausted by exertion. When 
the faculties have become torpid by long-continued 
inaction, they even require active exercise, for the 
renewal of their force. Long-sustained mental ap- 
plication must be relieved by resort to diversion. 
Profound thought on grave subjects, intense medita- 
tion, the solution of intricate problems, the prosecu- 
tion of abstruse investigations, the performing of 
complicated calculations, must give place, occasion- 
ally, to amusement, if vire would retain that very 
power of cogitation which we wish to exert. If our 
amusement take the form of a pleasant social pas- 
time, it will be all the more salutary. The man who 
does not wish to become stiff in body, and rigid in 
mind, must accustom himself to play, and to games 
which tend to give pliancy and grace combined with 
strength. The gravest senator is not out of place, 
when taking part in the sports or even the frolics of 
children. Such interludes unbend the sternness of 
manhood, and not only give entertainment to the 
fancy, and animation to the spirits, but meliorate the 
heart, and refresh our whole being.'' 

(3.) Definition of Synonyms. — Generic or general 
term, — Exercise. Recreation, renovating exercise ; 



PLAN OF THE COURSE. 17 

Diversion, sportive exercise ; Relaxation, restorative 
remission of exercise ; Amusement, entertaining ex- 
ercise ; Entertainment, amusive mental exercise ; In- 
terlude, intervening amusive exercise ; Pastime, fes- 
tive form of exercise ; Play, pleasurable exercise ; 
Game, regulated amusive exercise ; Sport, animating 
exercise ; Frolic, exhilarating exercise. 

(4.) Discrimination of Synonyms. 

Recreation (a) : Diversion (b). Distinction, found- 
ed on the difference between general (a) and parti- 
cular (b). Exemplification : " Diversion does not al- 
ways prove a wholesome form of recreationr 

Recreation (a): Relaxation (b). Distinction, — 
difference between action and remission; e. g. " The 
restorative influence of relaxation, to the weary, ren- 
ders it, sometimes, preferable to the most enlivening 
recreation,'' 

Amusement (a) : Entertainment (b). Distinction, 
— difference hetween general (a) and particular (b) ; 
e, g, " Theatrical entertainments were the chief form 
of popular amusement among the Athenians." 

Pastime (a): Interlude (b). Distinction, — dif- 
ference between continuous progression (a) and in- 
terruption (b); e.g. " The masques and pageants, 
and similar pastimes, of the middle ages, were inter- 
spersed with frequent interludes, designed to relieve 
the attention and enliven the feehngs of the spec- 
tators." 

Play (a): Game (b). Distinction, — difference he- 
tween general (a) and particular (b) ; e. g. " The 
healthful effect of play is aided by its taking the re- 
gulated form of a game.'' 

Sport (a) : Frolic (b). Distinctio7t, — difference in 
degree of activity; e. g. " The boys' spo7't soon end- 
ed in the most uproarious //oZzc." 

(VIII.) The Supplying of Ellipses, — the 
replacing of words intentionaUv omitted in the 

2# 



m 



18 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

form of exercise prescribed, which is designed to 
furnish opportunity for practice and discipline iii 
the appropriate and discriminating use of words 

Example. — " The hours of the afternoon were 
passed in very [ 1 ] society, and in very [ 2 ] 
occupation. Some of the party had just received 
the [ 3 ] inteUigence of the health and prosperity 
of near relatives abroad. The [ 4 ] approach of 
evening heightened the glow of [ 5 ] feeling in 
the social circle around the parlor fii-e; yet all re- 
ceived with pleasure the unexpected and [ 6 ] in- 
vitation to a sleigh-ride by moonhght." 

[1] agreeable, [2] pleasing, [3] gratifying, [4] wel- 
come, [5] cheerful, [6] acceptable. 

(IX.) Variation of Expression, — the trans- 
lation of selected passages into words nearly 
equivalent in signification. This process is de- 
signed, as a practical exercise in etymology, of 
which the main, though not the exclusive, object, 
is, to train the student to a ready recognition of 
the difference bet^veen idiomatic and unidiomatic 
expression, as dependent on the preponderance 
of words of Saxon or of Latin origin, in the 
phraseology of sentences, and the consequent 
character of style. 

Example. — There are frequently mornings in 
" " often early hours " 

March, when an admirer of nature may enjoy, 

a " day, " a lover *' " " expe- 

in a stroll, sensations not to be exceeded, or, 
rience " " ramble, feelings " " " surpassed *' 

perhaps, equalled by any thing which the full 

it may be, paralleled, " aught " " 

glory of summer can awaken, — morn- 

ample splendor " midsummer " excite, " 



PLAN OF THE COURSE. 19 

iiigs which tempt us to cast the memory of 

" " solicit " " throw " remembrance " 

winter, or the fear of its recurrence out 

the winter months, " " dread " their return " 

of our minds. The air is mild and balmy, 

*' " thoughts. " atmosphere ^' bland " fragrant, 

witji, now and then, a cool gush by no means un- 

" occasionally, " fresh rush not dis- 

pleasant, but on the contrary, contributing towards 

agreeable, " rather conducive to 

that peculiar and cheering feeling which we 

" special " exhilarating sensation " " 

experience only in spring." 
feel " " the opening season of the year."* 

(X.) Analysis of Composition. — In this de- 
partment, the study of words is carried into the ele- 
mentary part of rhetoric, — as a step essential to the 
completing of a course of exercises on words. The 
perfect fitness of a word for the purpose of expres- 
sion, requires, in many cases, attention to something 
more than merely its etymological signification, or a 
strictly logical definition of its import. Regard must 
be paid to its suggestive power to prompt the ima- 
gination and touch the heart. Its influence exerted 
on the mind by the laws of association, must be 
considered. This relation of language becomes an 
important object of attention in the discipline which 
prepares the student for the appreciation not only 
of the higher strains of eloquence and of poetry, but 
for the perception of truth, force, or beauty, of ex- 
pression, in any form of composition. 

The appropriateness, therefore, of even a single 

^ The design of the above form of exercise, is, as in translat- 
ing from a foreign language, to give the nearest synonyms to 
'the words of the text, without regard, for the moment, to the 
comparative inferiority of style necessarily attending the second- 
ary language of translation, when contrasted with that of the ori- 
ginal. Substitution of terms, and approximation of sense, are 
all that we require. 



20 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

word, becomes justly a subject of study, and a 
theme for practice, in connection with the requisi- 
tions of rhetorical criticism, in that department of 
the science which treats of the different character- 
istics of style, as prescribed by the nature of different 
subjects. This inseparable connection between sub- 
ject, thought, and expression, suggests the necessity 
of a course of critical training in the analysis of com- 
position, by which the character of the subject, and 
the train of thought, suggested by it, are ascertained 
and defined, with a view to determine the fitness not 
only of a given style of diction, or form of phraseo- 
logy, but of a single word to give expression to an 
idea. 

The practical exercise in this department, con- 
sists in the careful analysis of a composition, for 
the purpose of placing clearly before the mind, 
tlie subject of the piece ; the train of thought fol- 
lowed by the author ; the character of his ideas, 
as to their adaptation, in detail, to his subject, 
and to its developement in expression ; his rheto- 
rical traits of style^ as harmonising with his theme 
and his ideas ; and his consequent choice of 
words^ in the details of expression. — This part 
of a word-exercise will be found more fully stated 
in the Section headed " Exercise X." 



EXERCISE I. 
OETHOEPY. 

Introductory Explanations,^ — The design of the 
follo^ving exercises, is to secure the benefits of a 
thorough course of study and practice, in their re- 
spective branches. The first object, therefore, pre- 
sented for attention, in the analysis of words, is their 
orthoejjy, or correct pronunciation. This order is 
adopted not merely because, in actual experience, 
from infancy onward, the learner has his attention 
attracted to spoken language before written, but from 
the fact that, in dictating a word to be spelled, 
whether orally or in writing, by the pupil, the teacher 
necessarily gives it out orally, and, in the practice of 
careful instructors, the pupil is directed to repeat the 
word orally, before spelling it. The learner's atten- 
tion is thus, whether consciously or unconsciously, 
directed to the pronunciation of the word, before 
he can determine its orthography. 

Form of 'Exercise, — A convenient mode of 
prescribing the orthoepical part of an exercise on 
words, is as follows. — The teacher directs the 
pupils of a class to prepare themselves carefully, 
beforehand, for the exact pronunciation of every 

^ The explanatory observations intended for the student, and 
the practical suggestions addressed to the teacher, are, throughout 
this volume, presented in smaller type, and are meant to be read, 
merely. The exercise to be prescribed, or performed, is uniformly 
distinguished by larger type. 

(21) 



22 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

word in their reading lesson for the day ; so that 
he may call on any individual for any word se- 
lected from it, to be discussed in the following 
manner : (1.) pronouncing the whole word^ with 
the true, full, and exact sound of every syllable, 
and of every letter which is not a silent one, in 
the manner in which the word is properly uttered 
in public reading or speaking ; (2.) enunciating 
separately, and with perfect distinctness, every 
syllable of the word, as a group of sounds ; (3.) 
articulating^ with perfect exactness, the sound — 
not the name — of every letter which is not a 
silent one, in every syllable, successively ; (4.) 
after this analysis, repeating the proper pronuncia- 
tion of the whole word, in a full, clear, distinct, 
but easy and fluent manner. 

Suggestions to Teachers, — In the "3d'' part of this 
exercise, the names of letters are superseded by 
their sounds, and are therefore dropped as unneces- 
sary in an advanced lesson in orthoepy ; although, 
in primer and spelling-book lessons, the naming of 
every letter, and the repetition of every syllable, are 
equally important, as securities for close attention to 
details, and for consequent accuracy in pronuncia- 
tion. 

Teachers to whom the subject of phonography is 
familiar, will find the application of that method of 
indicating orthoepy a useful means of securing defi- 
nite and exact attention to the true sound of every 
letter and syllable of a word. The phonographic 
writing, on the blackboard, of every word of the 
lesson, selected for practice in orthoepy, may advan- 
tageously follow the "4th" part of the oral lesson 
described above. — Teachers who prefer, for the 
purpose of such an exercise, the use of the orthoepi- 
cal notation adopted in the dictionaries of Worcester 



ORTHOEPY. 23 

and Webster, will find it serviceable, though not 
so precise as that employed in the phonographic 
method. 

Three classes of words, in lessons on orthoepy, 
require particular attention : (1.) the frequently re- 
curring monosyllables, to, of, and, with, the, etc., which, 
owing to their comparative unimportance, are so liable 
to be slighted or corrupted, through negligence ; (2.) 
words which are commonly mispronounced in popu- 
lar and juvenile usage ; and in regard to which the 
ear is prone to be misled, through the prevalence 
of false habit; (3.) rare and difficult words, particu- 
larly proper names. All such words should be brought 
up more frequently for discussion, and should be more 
carefully practised, than others, — sometimes in simul- 
taneous utterance by the whole class. 

In assigning the daily lesson in orthoepy, the teacher 
may properly dwell, in anticipation, on such words as 
are liable to diversity of pronunciation, and prescribe 
the style which, in his own judgment, is to be pre- 
ferred. When conducting the exercise, at the time 
appropriated for recitation, the teacher may, as a 
security for careful previous study, on the part of the 
pupils, wiite, in customary orthographical form, se- 
lected words, on the blackboard, and require of the 
class, or of an individual, to give successively, as men- 
tioned before, the pronunciation of the words, the 
enunciation of their syllables, and the articulation of 
the sounds of their letters. It will be a useful varia- ' 
tion of method to invert the process, and, instead 
of the analytic form, to adopt the constructive one, 
and commence with the sounds of the letters, proceed 
to the enunciation of the syllables, and thence to the 
pronunciation of the words, successively. 

It will be found a very useful, as well as highly 
interesting, form of exercise, to have the pupils 
themselves, in turn, take, for the time, the place of 
teacher, and conduct such a lesson as has been de- 



24 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

scribed. Nothing has a surer tendency to secure 
attention, and to form correct habits. 

The orthoepical form of word-exercises, is meant 
to be a daily virtual review of the work originally 
done by the learner, in the lessons in oral spelling 
and syllabication, presented in the successive col- 
umns of his spelling-book, and to induce him to 
make constant use of his dictionary, for further 
guidance. Pupils whose earliest training may have 
been less accurate or regular than is desirable, will 
thus be enabled to atone, in degree, for the imperfec- 
tion of the previous stages of their education, by 
supplying deficiencies and. correcting errors. To all 
classes of pupils it may be a useful daily exercise 
to analyse, in the manner suggested, a fev/ lines from 
the first paragraph of their reading lesson. 

Suggestion to Stucle7zts. — To students somewhat 
advanced, who desire to attain to a systematic ac- 
curacy in their knowledge and use of the English 
language, and, more particularly, to such as intend 
to be occupied in teaching, or in public speaking, a 
self-appointed task, of a description similar to the 
foregoing, will prove highly serviceable. — Every 
teacher should be a competent living authority on 
every word of our language to which a dictionary 
can furnish access ; that he may be able to ensure 
the accuracy of his pupils by his own intelligent and 
appropriate exemplification. On all variable and 
controverted words, as to orthoepy, he should be 
critically versed in the comparative merits of every 
style proposed, that he may not be the slave of local 
prejudice or individual caprice. Worcester's Dic- 
tionary, or the Harper's edition of Webster's,^ will 

^ The revision which Webster's Dictionary has undergone, in 
the department of orthoepy, under the excellent editorial decisions 
of Professor Goodrich, renders the above-mentioned "edition pe- 
Iculiarly valuable to teachers and students. Dr. Goodrich's critical 
judgment and refined taste have left comparatively little ground 



ORTHOEPY. 25 

furnish, in their lists of words hable to diiferent styles, 
of pronunciation, a useful guide to the requisite 
knowledge in tliis department of instruction. 

The importance of attention to early habit, with 
regard to appropriate style in pronunciation, is evi- 
dent, not only wath respect to the distinctness of 
articulation which it produces, but the standard of 
taste and scholarship which it implies, in students 
and teachers, and, not less, in professional speakers. 
The prevalent negligence on this point, is painfully 
manifest in the st^de of many public addresses in 
which the evidences of culture and refinement were 
rightly to be expected. The comparative general 
correctness of American usage in pronunciation, does 
not extend, in due proportion, to the ranks of profes- 
sional life. Many a speaker who would blush at the 
inadvertent use of a false quantity in a syllable of 
Latin or Greek, is not ashamed to betray a slovenly 
negligence in pronouncing the words of his native 



CURIIENT ERRORS IN PRONUNCIATION. 

Suggestions to Teachers, — The general correctness 
of style "with which the English language is spoken 
in the United States, is freely admitted, even by 
those whose national prejudices might well be ex- 
pected to give an unfavorable bias to their judgment. 
This correctness, however, it ought never to be for- 
gotten by teachers, is but comparative ; and a faith- 
ful discharge of the duties of instruction, requhes a 
critical exactness of ear, on the part of those whose 
business it is to form individual and national habit, m 
this department of culture. 

A perfectly correct style of pronunciation, is a 

of objection, in regard to the peculiarities which formed the only 
drawback from the value of the orisrinal work. 



26 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

thing exceedingly difficult of attainment, in any com- 
munity in which our language is the native tongue 
of the people. The English language is itself ex- 
tremely irregular and arbitrary, in its spoken forms. 
The diversity of elements in its composition, suf- 
ficiently accounts for this defect. In one English 
sentence of ordinary length, the reader or speaker is 
making continual transitions from the characteristic 
style of utterance in the German class of dialects to 
the widely different mode prevailing in the Eomanic, 
and, particularly, the French. The spoken lan- 
guage, moreover, of any nation, even the most highly 
cultivated, being employed in the daily utterance of 
all classes of society, — the uncultivated as well as 
the learned, — is always found below the standard of 
written expression, which naturally falls, more gen- 
erally, under the stricter cognisance of educated 
usage. The comparative neglect, also, of taste and 
culture, as regards an influence on the style of oral 
expression, is a fault quite prevalent in most Anglo- 
Saxon communities. A nervous dread of seeming 
affectation, has, within the present century, taken 
the place, both in Old and New England, of the 
proper attention formerly given, in early training, to 
the acquisition of a correct and graceful use of lan- 
guage, as an attainment for which education was 
regarded as responsible. Every one who can recall 
examples of the style of conversation in the cultivat- 
ed circles of the preceding period, is ready to attest 
its superior character, as contrasted with the negli- 
gence and incorrectness current in our own day. 

In addition to the various circumstances which 
have been mentioned as impediments to the attain- 
ment of a uniform and correct style of spoken lan- 
guage, the English tongue labors under yet another, 
peculiar to itself It has no universally acknowl- 
edged standard of decision, to which it can refer in 
a question of propriety. The stage, when it was 



ORTHOEPY. 27 

trodden by the members of the royal household, — 
and, on great occasions, by the graduates of univer- 
sities, and the students of inns of court, — was justly 
held the model of pronunciation. But that golden 
age of dramatic literature and dramatic life, has long 
since passed away. The stage, becoming obsolete 
itself, inclines to obsolete and exploded usages ; and 
no standard of practice, for private life, could be pro- 
posed so revolting to true taste and sound judgment, 
\ as that which, by way of disparagement, is termed 
theatrical. The consentaneous usage of cultivated 
society, is the sole arbiter, in our day, of matters con- 
nected with the forms of utterance. The pulpit, the 
bar, the stage, the legislative hall, and the popular 
assembly, are all compelled to adopt the style thus 
imposed. But this law of custom is necessarily very 
vague, and not always plainly announced, or deci- 
sively enforced ; and, — as happens in all cases 
dependent on unity of opinion and action in large 
bodies of men, — is, to a great extent, inoperative. 
After all that can be said or done in the matter, a 
large number of the words in the English language, 
will ever be liable to a variable style of pronunciation ; 
and, in such circumstances, no error is greater than 
that of the rigorist who insists on the monopoly of 
propriety, and condemns the modes of well sanc- 
tioned usage, because at variance with his personal 
opinion and practice. 

Every attentive observer of national or of local 
custom, must be aware that, in America, we are 
liable to the influence of causes which counteract 
the general tendency to comparative accuracy in our 
current style of pronunciation. In our New-England 
States, there is a somewhat extensive prevalence of 
local peculiarities of usage, inherited from ancestral 
custom in certain parts of old England, but which 
are, everywhere else, regarded as obsolete. Some 
of these are exemplified even in the style of culti- 



28 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

vated and professional life ; and a few are actually 
inculcated in the orthoepy of standard dictionaries. 
The general practice of educated persons in our 
]\iiddle States, as regards the details of pronuncia- 
tion, while it avoids prevailing errors of the class 
just mentioned, is by no means wholly free from 
peculiarities of local custom, plainly traceable to the 
early prevalence of the German language. The 
pronunciation of our Southern States is characterised 
by the predominance of an obsolete length and 
breadth of vowel sounds, such as marked the style 
of the country gentlemen of England, more than a 
century ago ; and the spoken language of our West- 
ern States, is, to a great extent, chargeable with an 
intermixture of the local errors of Nev/-England 
with those of the South. 

A close, critical attention to perfect purity of style, 
on the part of teachers, and a careful correction of 
local errors in juvenile pronunciation, are the only 
securities for the removal of faults, and for the 
attainment of that most desirable result of general 
education, a correct and appropriate use of our native 
lajiguage. The readiness of public sentiment to 
favor the teacher's office, in this respect, devolves 
additional responsibleness, on his part, to the duties 
of his station. In all parts of the national Union, 
there is a prevaihng disposition to submit to the 
authority of a recognised standard of orthoepy, and 
to adopt that of a dictionary, rather than the fluc- 
tuating and arbitrary one of any living or professional 
form. But the notation of orthoepy, although given 
in the most exact of forms, in the columns of a dic- 
tionary, must ever be interpreted by the voice of the 
teacher ; and the correctness of his judgment and 
practice, is necessarily the measure of his pupil's 
attainments. 

A few of the prominent principles of orthoepy, 
which are most liable to be neglected in current 



ORTHOEPY. 29 

usage, and some examples of prevailing local error, 
are here presented as aids to the teacher in his 
endeavors to form aright the character of early habit 
in liis pupils. 



RULES OF ORTHOEPY. 



Sounds of the letter A. 



I. The vowel a, unaccented, preceding a conso- 
nant, sounds, properly, as in the word admit. — Ex- 
amples : Abet, abound, alas, alone, avow, away, 
cabal, caress, paternity, variety, contrary, customary, 
obduracy. 

Errors : [A sounding as in ale,^ '' Aybet, aybound, 
aylas, aylone, ayvow, ayway," etc. 

II. The indefinite article a, and the vowel a, at 
the end of a word, sound properly as a in admit, — 
Examples : A man, a book, a place, algebra, diplo- 
ma, dilemma, Asia, America, Cuba, data, arcana, 
arena, strata, alpha. 

Errors: (1.) [A sounding as in aZe,] " Algebray, 
diplomay, dilemmay, etc. Cubay, arcanay," etc. (2.) 
{Er, for a,] " Cuber, arcaner, arener," etc. 

III. The sound of a, in the word and, and others 
of the same class, is, properly, intermediate between 
that of a, in arm, and that of e, in end. — Examples : 
And, hand, band, land, can, man, van, add, had, 
mad, last, vast, past, class, mass, grass. 

Errors: (1.) [Too nearly,] "End, hend, bend, 
ken, men, med, lest, vest, cless, mess," etc. (2.) 
[Too nearly,] " Mass, (a, as in marsh,) last, vast, past, 
class, mass, grass." - 

IV. The proper sound of a, in words such as hare, 
air, layer, is neither so broad as that of a, in and, nor 
so close as that of a, in ale, but coincides with that 

3# 



30 EXERCISES ON WOUDS. 

of e in there, — Examples : Care, dare, pare, lair, fair, 
stair, prayer, careful, daring, parent, fairly, staircase, 
prayerful. 

Errors: (l.) [Approaching,] " Car', dar', par', car'- 
ful, parrent, pra'rful." (2.) [Approaching, or abso- 
lutely,] " Cayer, dayer, payer, cayerful, payrent," 
etc. 

E. 

I. The vowel e, immediately followed by the let- 
ter /, and a consonant, has a sound intermediate be- 
tween that of e, in the word end, and that of u, in 
the word up, — not so close as the former, nor so 
open as the latter. — Examples : Term, germ, termi- 
nate, germinate, sermon, servant, perfect, person, 
mercy, personate, merciful. 

Errors : " Turm " and " tairm," " jurm " and 
*'jairm," "survant" and " sairvant," "purfect" and 
'' pairfect," " murcy " and " maircy," etc. 

II. In the combinations, -ed and -el, when they form 
a final syllable, the vowel e sounds, properly, as ^, 
in it — Examples : Wicked, crested, hinted, blessed, 
haunted, founded, rounded, sounded, astounded, ap- 
pointed ; gospel, quarrel, revel, vessel, model, level, 
jewel, etc. 

Errors: [Too nearly thus,] '' Wickedd, crestedd, 
hintedd, blessedd." 

III. In -et, -est, and -ess, as final syllables, the 
vowel e retains its sound, as in the word met. — Ex- 
amples : — Market, trinket, hearest, grandest, bravest, 
goodness, meekness, righteousness, blessedness. 

Error : [ Changing the sound of e, in met, into 
that of i, in it,] " Baskit, markit, trinkit, hearist, 
grandist, bravist, goodniss, meekniss, righteousniss." 

J. 

I. The vowel i, occurring in monosyllables ending 
in e mute, is, properl3^ a diphthongal sound, com- 



ORTHOEPY. 31 

mencing %vit}i that of a, in the word and, and termi- 
natmg m an- approach to the sound of e, in eve. — 
Examj^Ies : Isle, mile, vile, ride, side, life, time, vine, 
bite, rite. 

Errors: (1.) [Commencing with the sound of a 
in arm, — giving a broad and drawhng sound to the 
whole element, — as if expressed thus,] " Mael, laef, 
taem, vaen," etc. — (2.) [Commencing with nearly 
the sound of e in end, — causing a flat and mincing 
sound, — as if expressed thus,] '' Meel, leef, teem, 
veen," etc. 

II. The vowel z, unaccented, preceding a conso- 
nant, sounds, properly, as in the word it. — Examples : 
Direct, diverge, divest, divert, minuteness, dimen- 
sion, divulge, diversify, philosopher, philosophical. 

Errors : [/sounding as in mile,] " Di-rect, di-verge, 
dl-vest, mi-nuteness," etc. 

O. 

I. The vowel o, in monosyllables ending with silent 
e, is, properly, a long sound, as in the name of the 
letter, itself — Examples : Cone, lone, bone, stone, 
home, whole, hope. 

Errors : [Nearly,] " Bon, ston, hom, hoi, hop." 

II. O, in such words diS force, source, etc., has, pro- 
perly, its long, close sound, as in rose. — Exam2:)les : 
Force, forge, ford, forth, source, sword, course, hoarse, 
resource, fourteen. 

Errors : [Too nearly,] " Fawrce, sawxce, sawrd, 
hawi'se," etc. 

III. O, in such words, as or, nor, etc., has, proper- 
ly, a sound intermediate between o, in on, and a, in 
all. — Examples : Or, nor, orb, cord, lord, short, storm, 
corn, north, torch. 

Errors : (1.) [Too nearly,] '' Oar, near, oarb, coard, 
loard," etc. [Too nearly,] '' Ar, nar, arb, card, lard," 
etc. 



32 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

IV. O, in such words as not, nod, etc., has, pro- 
perly, a sound which is never capable of being con- 
founded with that of o, in old, nor with that of a, in 
and. — Examples : Not, lot, sod, god, loss, toss, lost, 
tossed, off, oft, soft, soften, often. 

Errors : (1.) [Too nearly,] " Goad, loass, toassed, 
oaff, soaft," etc. (2.) [Too nearly,] " Gad, lass, 
tassed, aff, saft," etc. 

V. In the termination -or, the vowel o takes, pro- 
perly, the sound of o, in done, — Examples : Creator, 
spectator, speculator, operator, factor, numerator. 

Errors : Sounding the o of these and similar words, 
as in the word or, and as in the Latin words creator, 
spectator, etc., in which a partial accent justly falls 
on the final syllable, thus distinguishing these words 
from the English ones of the same orthography. 

U. 

I. The vowel u, occurring in monosyllables end- 
ing in silent e, and in many words in which it occurs 
before a single consonant, sounds, properly, as the 
whole pronominal word you. — Examples : Cube, 
tube, lute, mute, tune, flute, duke, dupe, flume, plume, 
spume, duty, dutiful, student, stupid, constitute, in- 
stitute, constitution, revolution, institution. 

Errors : — (1.) " Toob, loot, toon, floot, dook, dooty, 
stoodent, stoopid, constitoot, institoot, constitootion, 
revolootion, institootion." — (2.) [Nearly thus,] " Ta- 
yoob, layoot, tayoon, flayoot, frayoot, rayool, consti- 
tayoot," etc. 

II. The vowel u, occurring as above, but imme- 
diately followed by the letter r, takes, properly, the 
sound of 00 in rood, or of oo in root. — Examples : 
Rule, rude, crude, prune, brute, fruit, true, rural, 
brutal, truly, prudish. 

Errors: "Kayool" and "ryule", "rayood" and 
" ryude ", " crayood " and " cryude '', " prayoon " and 



ORTHOEPY. 33 

" pryime '\ " brayoot " and " bryute '', '' frayoot " and 
" fryuit '\ " trayoo " and " tryue ", etc. 

Note. The difference between these errors, is 
merely that which characterises the former as the 
style of rural life, and the latter as that of the edu- 
cated class, in the local style of New England. But 
the unfortunate sanction of Webster's, and even of 
Worcester's dictionary, tends to introduce it in schools 
in other parts of the Union, and justly causes offence 
to the ear, as a recognised peculiarity of the pro- 
nunciation of our Eastern States, wliich even the 
actor on the stage takes pains to introduce, as a 
means of giving life-like reality to his delineations 
of local character. 

The Diphthoiigs 01 and OY, 

Rule. The sound of the diphthongs oi and oy, 
commences properly with the sound of o in or. — 
Examples : Oil, boil, toil, coil, boy, joy, toy, hoy, re- 
coil, turmoil, rejoice, avoid, joyful. 

Error: [The sound commencing with that of o 
in old.'] " Oil, boil, toil, coil, boy, joy, recoil, rejoice, 
avoid." 

0Ua7id OW. 

Rule. The diphthongs ou^ in such words as our, 
and OW, in such words as down, commence, properly, 
to the ear, with the sound of o in such words as done, 
come, etc. — Examples : Our, bound, found, ground, '■ 
count, account, recount, how, now, down, gown, town, 
scowl. 

Errors : (1.) J Commencing with nearly the sound 
of a in arm,] " Aur, baund, faund, haoo, naoo, daoon," 
etc. (2.) ^[Commencing with a sound like that of e 
in end,] " Eur, beund; feund, heu, neu, deun, keunt, 
ackeunt, skeul." 



34 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 



The Letter R, 

Rules. I. The letter r, when it precedes a vowel, 
has a clear, firm, distinct, but brief and compacted 
sound, called, by Walker, the rough r. — Exmnples : 
Rap, rack, ray, rave, reed, rice, rod, run, rural, ruin, 
library, roaring, rearing, brace, dread, fresh, grand, 
drum, proud, tread. 

Errors : (1.) [Softening, muffling, or obscuring the 
sound, by feebleness or slackness of articulation. It 
is impossible, by any combination of letters, to indi- 
cate this sound. Its effect on the ear, is, to give the 
impression of childish or morbid weakness of organ 
in the speaker.] (2.) [Rolling, or prolonging and 
unduly roughening, the sound of this element, in the 
style of foreign languages, or of theatrical utterance. 
Sometimes represented thus,] " Rrap, rrack, rray, 
rrave, derread, derrum, terread." 

Unaccented Syllables. 

Rule, In unaccented syllables, the sounds of let- 
ters should neither be skipped, nor sunk into ob- 
scurity, nor protruded. 

Note. Syllables which orthoepists, in some in- 
stances, mention as being '' obscure ", are, properly, 
only shortened in duration, and diminished in force, 
but never slurred so as to change the character of 
the predominating letter, or substitute one for an- 
other. 

Examples : Initial Syllables, — Abate, abide, adore, 
before, belate, compose, condemn, collect, correct, 
corrupt, perform, perfume, perforce, propel, produce, 
promote, secure, seclude. 

Errors : " Ubbate " and " aybate '', " ubbide " and 
" aybide ", " buffore " and " beefore ", " cumpose " 
and "com-pose", "d'ny'' and "deeny'\ "currect" 



ORTHOEPY. 35 

and "cor-rect", ''pufForm" and "per-form", " pru- 
pel" and " pro-pel", " s'cure " and " seecure." 

Examples : Middle and Pemdtimate Syllables, — 
Every, several, murderer, utterance, traveller, delib- 
erate, desperate, history, rhetoric, memory, mem- 
orable, melancholy, desolate, articulate, accuracy, re- 
gular, masculine, melody, custody, eloquence, obso- 
lete, obstinate, society, sobriety, anxiety, variety, 
alarming, disarming, returning, discerning, worldling, 
reverberate. 

Errors : " Ev'ry, seVral, murd'rer, trav'ller, des- 
p'rate, hist'ry, mem'ry, melanch'ly, reg'lar, meliidy, 
sociuty, ala'ming, wo'ldling ", etc. 

Examples : Final Syllables, — Travel, gravel, ves- 
sel, level, novel, model, musical, comical, critical, 
capital, metal, ecclesiastical, fatal, fantastical, princi- 
pal, certain, fountain, mountain, horizon, motion, no- 
tion, diapason, moment, dependent, confidence, gov- 
ernment, equipment, providence, parliament, ascend- 
ant, perseverance, defiance, motto, fellow, window, 
meadow, billow, waking, morning, running, singing, 
walking, warrior, daystar, before, fiower, reindeer, 
alarm, return, depart, departure, murmur, character, 
nature, feature, creature, measure, pleasure, invinci- 
ble, incredible, perceptible, special, judicial, artificiai, 
invasion, confusion, adhesion, division, dimension, 
profession, option, addition, Indian, tedious, odious, 
fastidious, chasm, schism, witticism, patriotism, phan- 
tasm. • 

Errors : " Trav'l, grav'l, vess'l, music'l, comic'l, 
critic'l, princip'l, fat'l, cert'n, fount'n, mount'n, horiz'n, 
mosh'n, nosh'n, dependunt, confidunce, gover'munt, 
feller, wmder, meader, mornin', runnin', singin', 
daysta', ala'm, depa't, depatslia, cha'ata, nacha, 
feacha, creddubble, special, invazh'n, divizh'n, In- 
jun, tejus, ojus, chasum, patriotisum." 



EXERCISES ON WORDS. 



Tlie ivord My. 

Rule. Tlie y of the v/orcl my, in familiar and 
imemphatic phrases, is, properly, shortened into the 
sound of i and y, in the v/ord city. This modification, 
however, should never extend so far as to make the 
sound of the letter y, in this "word, identical "with 
that of e, in the word 7ne. The former style is ap- 
propriate, as contrasted with emphatic, full, formal, 
or solemn expression, in which the y is properly given 
"with the long name sound of the vowel i, as in the 
word 7nile. The latter style is merely an accident 
of foreign usage, which has gained a local currency 
in some parts of our own country. 

The luord The. 

Rule. The letter e, in the definite article, changes 
its sound, in accommodation to easy utterance, ac- 
cording to the character of the sound which imnle- 
diately folio v/s it, in the body of any phrase. Before 
a word beginning with a vowel, it has, properly, a 
sound like that of e, in the word emit : before a con- 
sonant, its proper sound is that of e, in the word 
term. — Rlxamples : The arm, the elk, the isle, the 
oak, the upland, the oiFset, the efiect, the arrow, the 
owl, the ape ; — the boy, the man, the hand, the 
head, the hill, the house, the town, the soldier, the 
book, the place, the parent, the shephefd, the clouds, 
the way, the war, the west, the wish, the youth, the 
year, the yam. 

Exceptions: (1.) When the definite article occurs 
before a word commencing with the letter e, sound- 
ing as in eve, or the letter i, sounding as in it, the e, 
of the word the, has, properly, the same sound as 
before a word beginning with a consonant. — Rlx- 
amples : The ear, the eve, the east, the eel, the inn, 
the interior, the inn-keeper, the idiot, the interval. 



ORTHOEPY. 37 

(2.) When the occurs before a word commencing 
with a vowel sounding as u^ in the word up, or ^vith 
any one approaching to that sound, the e of the, re- 
verts to the sound, of e in emit. — Examjjles : The 
utterance, the utmost, the upper, the upshot, the 
unworthy, the unthankful ; — the ermine, the earth, 
the earnings. 

(3.) When the occurs before a word commencing 
with the sound of u, in the word use, the e of tlie, 
takes the same sound as before a consonant. Exam- 
ples : The universe, the union, the university, the 
unicorn, the eulogy, the European, the euphony, the 
unanimity. 

Words the pronimciation of which is properly depend- 
ent on individual taste and preference. 

Kind, guide, guard, sky, etc. — A very delicate, 
brief, and slight sound, resembling that of the letter 
y, in the word yet, is sanctioned by the best authority, 
as following the letters k and g, in these words. 
American usage inclines, in some instances of this 
class of words, to the prevalent style of Scotland, 
which omits the slight sound referred to, and, in 
others, to an exaggerated protrusion of that sound. 

Grandeur, odious, tedious, Indian, educate, gradual, 
verdure, etc. Nature, feature, creature, curvature, sig- 
nature, fortune, fortunate, etc. — In these classes of 
words, a slight softening of the sounds of d and t, 
which makes them approach, although not quite 
reach, the articulation of the consonantal combina- 
tions dzh and tsh, is sanctioned by the best authority. 
In these, as in the instances mentioned above, the 
error of taste lies in carrying the modified sound to 
excess, v/hich is a prominent trait in the enunciation 
of the public speakers of Ireland. American usage, 
wherever the standard of Walker is adopted, inclines 
to this style; and, where Walker is rejected, it adopts 
4 



6b EXERISES ON WORDS. 

the comparatively hard and hteral mode of articu- 
lation prevalent in Scotland, wliich preserves the 
sounds of d and t unmodified. 

Pronunciation, as modified by Rhyme, 

The word ivind, and a few others, are sometimes, 
in poetic usage, properly, allowed, for the sake of 
rhyme, an older style of pronunciation than is now 
current. This poetic license is an accorded privilege 
of orthoepy, with which the reader is not at liberty 
to dispense ; as the infringement would rob the poet 
of his right. The courtesy due to poets, however, is 
not to be stretched to desperate extremes, as in the 
case of the words duly, truly, etc., when introduced 
by comparatively modern writers, in affected antique 
style, and apparently demanding, for the y in these 
words, the sound of i, in the word lie. On the other 
hand, the appropriate reading of poets of the earliest 
period of our literature, requires that the antique 
and obsolete style be preserved throughout, as essen- 
tial alike to rhythm and to rhyme. A modern pro- 
nunciation would, in such reading, destroy the music 
of many of the most purely poetic passages of our 
literature. 



The pronunciation of Greek and Latin words. 

General Rules. (I.) Greek and Latin proper 
names, and Greek and Latin words generally, when 
occurring singly, in the reading of English sentences, 
may be pronounced with the characteristic sounds 
of letters given as in English words containing simi- 
lar syllabic combinations. — Examples : Achaia, Asia, 
Mesopotamia, Africanus, Coriolanus, Corioli, Veii 
datum, stratum, via, bronchitis, etc. 

Exception — Ch, in Greek and Latin words, have 



ORTHOEPY. 39 

uniformly the sound of cli in chasm. — Examples : 
Charta, Archipelago, Archimedes. 

II. In the reading of Latin quotations, extending to 
clauses and sentences, the vowels a and i occurring in 
Latin words, in such positions as, in English words, 
would require them to sound as in ale and isle, may, at 
the discretion of the reader or the teacher, be enun- 
ciated with these sounds, or with those of a, in arm, 
and of iy in magazine ; both modes of pronunciation 
being sanctioned, or permitted, in our colleges. 

Note. — The former of these styles, although sanc- 
tioned by the authority of Oxford, is, to all the 
nations of Europe, but England, an unnatural and 
revolting barbarism, entirely subversive of the ap- 
propriate music of utterance in the ancient languages. 
Our New-England colleges are, at length, beginning 
to recede so far from this objectionable style as to 
permit the continental forms of orthoepy, in the 
reading of Greek and Latin. In our Middle States, 
the purity of the continental style is sometimes 
marred by an unwarrantable license, which introdu- 
ces the Oxford sound of i, in the same word, perhaps, 
with the continental broad a. The word Romani, 
transmuted by this system of compromise, becomes 
neither the venerable " Romance" of antiquity, nor 
the Anglicised, self- consistent " Romani," but a species 
of "modern antique" in utterance, — " Romani." 



The Authority of Walker, as an Orthoepist. 

The fact, that the owners of the copyright of 
"Walker's dictionary, found it necessary, some years 
ago, to employ Mr. Smart of London, an eminent 
instructor and elocutionist, to revise the work, be- 
cause the style of pronunciation indicated by its 
author, had, in some classes of words, become obso- 



40 EXERCISES ON WOEDS. 

lete, proves the falsity of the opinion that American 
usage ought to be kept uniformly and rigorously to 
Walker's standard. It should never be forgotten by 
teachers, however, that the interpretation of this fact 
does not warrant the entire rejection of Walker's 
authority, in the headlong and rash manner which is 
sometimes exemplified, and which scouts the de- 
cisions of Walker as, in any case, binding, or even 
well founded. Walker's authority was respectfully 
acknowledged by the most learned and the most ac- 
complished men of his day, as decisive on all points, 
T^ith the exception of a few of the changes which 
he wished to introduce, and in which he was not fol- 
lowed by the sanction of custom. — At the distance 
of more than half a century from the period of 
Walker's ascendency, and in our capacity as a distinct 
and independent nation, we may justly be expected 
to claim a yet wider liberty of opinion, taste, and 
practice, than the people of England ; and, while 
Walker's dictionary still holds a respectable place in 
our regard, we may well be allowed to modernise 
our current style of pronunciation, by the aids of 
Smart and Reid, and those, also, of our own country- 
men. Dr. Worcester and Professor Henry Reed, — 
and, in all cases in which American usage is univer- 
sal, and not merely local, to follow our own national 
mode, in preference to any other. 

The two British authors, mentioned above, have 
furnished valuable aids to instruction in their respec- 
tive dictionaries. That of Smart gives a faithful 
report of the usage of cultivated speakers, at the 
present day, in the city of London : Reid's presents 
a more general style, — that v/hich may be said to 
characterise the pronunciation of educated persons, 
throughout the British isles, who have freed their 
manner from local peculiarities. Eeid's dictionary, 
accordingly, is found in extensive use in the normal 
schools and higher seminaries of Great Britain. The 



ORTHOEPY. 



41 



late Professor Henry Reed, of Philadelphia, rendered 
an invaluable service to the interests of education, 
by his careful re-editing of that work, not less than 
by his constant exertions, in other forms, to cherish, 
among the students of our higher seminaries of 
learning, a taste for the study of Enghsh literature 



Words peculiarly liable to wrong Accent, in 
negligent usage. 

The principle by which the teacher should be 
guided in determining the rule of accent, in the fol- 
lowing and similar instances, is the preponderance of 
authority. The conflicting decisions of different or- 
thoepists, sometimes, unfortunately, lead to the con- 
clusion that the adoption of any of the proposed 
modes, in a given case, is a matter of indifference. 
But this should be the result only when authorities 
are exactly or nearly balanced. In whatever case 
one or two names only are adduced in favor of a 
given style, while all others stand opposed to it, the 
minority, — no matter how eminent, — are necessarily, 
for the moment, in the wrong; since in this, as in all 
other points concerning language, the question is 
one of usage and fact, — not of theory or opinion. 



Ab'attis ^ 

alter'nate 

bombast' 

carter 

contem'plate 

demon 'strate 

dis'crepant 

es'sayist 

irrefragable 

panegyric 

quanda'ry 

reni'tency 



abdo'men 

ambuscade 

bureau' 

celibacy 

confidant' 

desic'cate 

elegi'ac 

governan'te 

obligatory 

panthe'on 

receplacle 

rep'ertory 



address' 

antip'odes 

cap'illary 

coadjulor 

con'sistory 

dioc'esan 

empyre'an 

indis'putable 

or'deal 

papillary 

refec'tory 

per'emptory 



alco've 

a'rea 

caravan' 

com'bative 

compen'sate 

consum'mate 

dis'crepance 

epicure'an 

inqui'ry 

orlhoepy 

proceeds' 

rem'ediless 



no'menclature legislature. 



=* The true accent, only, is marked in the above columns. 
4# 



42 



EXERCISES ON WORDS. 



Words on the pronunciation of which the 
weight of authority is nearly balanced, and 
which, therefore, are amenable to the de- 
cision of individual judgment and taste, as 
to their appropriate style. 

Note. — Whatever shade of preference, in any in- 
stance, may be justly claimed, is intimated by the 
mode of notation on the left-hand column. 



Bal'cony 


balco'ny 


oblique {-eeh) 


oblique (-ihe) 


chivalry (sh-) 


chivalry {tsh-) 


ophthalmic (op-)ophthalmic (o^f-) 


conten'ts 


con'tents 


or'chestra 


orches tra 


courteous (cur- 


) courteous {cor- 


) pageant 


pageant 


cynosure 


cynosure 


palfrey 


palfrey 


deco'rous 


dec'orous 


panegyric {-jer- 


-)panegyric {jir-) 


design (ss) 


design {z) 


pasty 


pasty 


dynasty 


dynasty 


patent 


patent 


dyspep'sy 


dys'pepsy 


pedal 


pedal 


enverope 


ang'velope 


petal 


petal 


e'querry 


equer'ry 


phalanx 


phalanx 


Evangelical 


evangelical 


pharmaceutic 


pharmaceutic 


ex'cavate 


exca'vate 


{-Jcu-) 


1 (-seu-) 


facade 


fa^ad 


platina {-te-) 


platina (-ti-) 


feb'rile 


fe'brile 


pother (-uth-) 


pother {-oth-) 


gain'say 


gainsay' 


privacy 


privacy 


gla'cis 


glaceess' • 


prom'ulgator 


promulga'tor 


gladia'tor 


glad'iator 


pronunciation 


pronunciation 


halcyon (sheun) halcyon (seun) 


{-sh-) 


(-S-) 


hegira (he-) 


hegira {hedj-) 


protest' [nounj 


pro'test and 


hemis'tich 


hem'istich 




prot'est 


heresiarch(-;c;/ie- 


) heresiarch {-ze- 


) prow 


pro 


hiccough {-up) 


hiccough {-off) 


pu'issance 


puis'sance 


hospital Cos-) 


hospital {hos-) 


piimice 


pumice 


humble (him-) 


humble {hum-) 


quoth {-U-) 


quoth (-0-) 


infantile (-il) 


infantile (-lie) 


route {-00-) 


route {-0W-) 


inimi'cal 


inim'ical 


satire {sdter) 


sater and satire 


jackall' 


jack'all 


satyr {sdter) 


satvr {sdter) 


lustring 


lustring 


Saturn 


Saturn 


Messieurs 


Messieurs 


schismat'ic 


schis'matic 


{-shurz) 


(-yerz) 


schedule {sic-) 


schedule {sed-) 


minute {-it) 


minute {-ute) 




and {shed-) 


mob'ile 


mo'bile 


seneschal {-sk-) 


seneschal (-sh-) 


no'menclature 


nomencla'turo 


sher'bet 


sherbet' 



ORTHOEPY. 



43 



shire (-1-) 
sirup {s^r-) 
solder 
southward 
sugo^est (sug-) 
tenure 
tetrarch 
threepence 

(thrip-) 
tierce (eer-) 
tripod, 
twopence 



shire (-ee-) 
sirup (seer-) 
sawder 
suthard 
suggest (sud-) 
tenure 
tetrarch 
threepence 

(threep-) 
tierce (er-) 
tripod 
tuppence 



u'tensil 

venison (venizn) 

vertigo (-ee-) 

vicinal 

wainscoat 

waistcoat 

warrior 

(war-yur) 
wound (-00-) 
yeast (yest) 
yea [ymj) 
zenith 



uten'sil 

venison [venzn) 

vertigo (-i-) 

vicinal 

wenscot 

wescot 

warrior 

(war-re-or) 
wound {-oW') 
yeast (yest) 
yea (ye) 
zenith 



EXERCISE II. 

ORTHOGRAPHY. 

Form of Exercise. — A convenient mode of 
prescribing a word-exercise in which the practice 
of orthography is intended to form a prominent 
part, may be found in the following plan. The 
teacher directs the class to prepare themselves, in 
proper season, so as to be ready, at the time as- 
signed for the class-exercise, to spell, by writing 
on their slates, on the blackboard, or in a con- 
venient blank book, whatever words he may 
choose to select from a paragraph or page, pre- 
scribed from the daily reading-lesson of the class, 
or from any other convenient source. The pupil's 
preparation extends, of course, over the w^hole 
portion assigned, for all of which he is responsible. 
But a selection of twenty words will usually be 
found to occupy advantageously all the time 
which can be properly devoted, in school hours, 
to a class-lesson in orthography, especially when 
it forms but a part of an exercise on words. 

The most convenient mode of conducting the 
performance of such exercises in class-form, is the 
following. The teacher, having previously ex- 
amined the page or paragraph from which the 
lesson in orthography is prescribed, and having 
marked, with a pencil-dot, such words as he 
deems most important for his purpose, pronoun- 

(44) 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 45 

ces the first of the words thus selected, and has 
it written by the class, as mentioned above. The 
remaining words of the lesson are dictated and 
written as the first. 

Suggestions. — In performing tne exercise, the 
youngest classes may do their work on the black- 
board; the intermediate, on their slates; and the 
advanced, in their manuscript books. 

When slates are used in writing the lesson, a con- 
venient way of ascertaining the degree of correct- 
ness attained in every exercise, is this. On finishing 
the whole number of words dictated as a lesson, the 
pupils interchange slates; and, while the teacher 
gives orally, or writes on the blackboard, the true 
spelling of every word, every pupil marks, by un- 
derlining, any word wliich he observes incorrectly 
spelled on the slate which, for the moment, he has 
in hand, and, when called by the teacher, reports, 
orally, the number of errors so marked. The slates 
are then returned to their respective owners, for cor- 
rection; and the corrected spelling-lesson is trans- 
ferred to a manuscript book ; the underlining being 
retained, to indicate the words which were corrected 
on the slate. The words so marked may be reviewed, 
at convenient times, as a special class -exercise ; the 
teacher selecting for inscription on the blackboard, 
by the pupils, in turn, the words which he finds, by 
referring to the manuscript books, to have been 
originally misspelled by them individually. 

In classes sufficiently advanced for the use of 
manuscript books in the first form of a written exer- 
cise in spelling, the writing may, for convenience, be 
done in pencil, and' the errors indicated by the cor- 
rector making merely a slight mark, dot, line, or 
cross, opposite to each error, and reporting the num- 
ber of errors orally, as before. The owner of the 
book, when it is returned to him, makes the requisite 



46 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

correction, but leaves the mark indicating error un- 
erased, and hands to the teacher, or writes on the 
blackboard, a weekly list of the errors made by the 
writer, together with the requisite correction. Pupils 
are thus brought to give special attention to the 
errors to which they individually incline ; and their 
progress is indicated, from "week to "week, by the con- 
tinually diminishing number of errors reported by 
the recording book. The teacher is also thus made 
aware of the previous standing of pupils recently 
admitted as members of a class. 

As a means of inducing attention, and as a pleas- 
ing incitement to the minds of very young pupils, 
the teacher may "write or print the words of the 
lesson, for them, on the blackboard, at their dictation ; 
and, as a further variation of mental exercise, he 
may occasionally write a word, and ask the class 
whether it is rightly spelled; having given due 
w^arning that, to secure close attention and accurate 
observation, the words may be, sometimes, intention- 
ally spelled wrong, for the purpose of calling forth a 
correction. 

In the practice of orthography, as part of a word- 
exercise, the written form of spelling is adopted ex- 
clusively, as oral spelling is presumed to have already 
been sufficiently practised in the primer and spelling- 
book exercises, and to have been followed, also, by 
an introductory course of lessons in oral spelling 
without syllabication, so as to prepare the young 
learner, when spelling for strictly orthographical 
purposes, to retain in his memory all the letters 
v/hich constitute a word, without the aid of the 
stepping-stones furnished by enunciating and re- 
capitulating its syllables. 

An early and long-continued training in written 
spelling, seems indispensable, in most cases, to the 
formation of strictly exact habits of ocular obseri^a- 
tion. For, as is well known to experienced teachers, 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 47 

the utmost accuracy of habit in oral spelling, is no 
security for corresponding exactness in written spell- 
ing. Individuals are sometimes found, who have 
stood at the head of an oral spelling-class in school, 
for successive terms, who, when brought to the test 
of the written exercise, fail in every line, on one or 
more words. For this reason, exercises in spelling 
by the use of letter-blocks and cards, are of the 
greatest value, in training young children: they 
habituate the pupil to something like the accuracy 
of the compositor in the printing office ; and they 
work their effect by the same discipline, — that of 
not only seeing and recognising, but also handling 
every letter in a word. To pupils in advanced 
classes it is a valuable opportunity for improvement 
to be permitted to aid the teacher in conducting the 
lessons of young classes, and, sometimes, to take 
the place of temporary instructor in their own. Such 
employment calls for and secures a watchful atten- 
tion to accuracy, by showing, in the most impressive 
manner, the necessity of possessing it; and, as much 
the greater number of teachers must, even at the 
present day, enter on their work without the advan- 
tage of professional training, it would be an invalua- 
ble aid to education, m this department, were every 
reliable member of our public schools required to 
occupy a part of every day of the last year of his 
or her attendance at school, as a pupil, in practical, 
preparatory training for teaching, in such forms as 
the one now suggested. 

Competent examiners, if called on to testify with 
regard to the accuracy of general habit among us, in 
the matter of spelling, could bring up statements 
which, when kept within the bounds of literal truth, 
could hardly be credited by those whose opportuni- 
ties of observing are more restricted. The majority 
of even our New-England teachers, could ill stand a 
strict scrutiny in this matter ; — all owing to the 



48 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

simple fact, that, althougli well drilled, perhaps, in 
oral spelling, in childhood, they were not trained to 
the exercise of written spelling, at any stage of their 
school discipline. — The eye may not say, " I am not 
of the body;" but it may well be allowed to say, I 
am not the ear. The discipline of the musician will 
not make a painter. 

The remarks made under the head of orthoepy, 
concerning the importance of perfect accuracy, on 
the part of students and teachers, apply, with equal 
force, to the demand for this indispensable qualifica- 
tion, in the case of the student or teacher of ortho- 
graphy. No word of the English language, — co- 
pious as the language is, — must be unknown to him, 
as regards its constituent letters. Months of appli- 
cation may be needed, even by the educated adult, 
to render him critically exact in this branch of the 
requisite knowledge of his daily business. A single 
error in orthography, casts a cloud of doubt over even 
the most liberal mind, as to the competency of a 
candidate for the office of teacher, who thus obvi- 
ously fails in the ability to set a correct example or 
detect an error. Nothing short of a thorough self- 
discipline in orthography, throughout the dictionary 
of the language, should satisfy a candidate for the 
occupation of teaching. 

Worcester's Comprehensive and Critical Dictiona- 
ries will furnish the student with a reliable standard 
for actual and well-sanctioned usage in the ortho- 
graphy of our language at the present day. The 
Harpers' octavo edition of Webster's dictionary, also, 
among the many other excellent features which 
recommend that work to teachers, for their special 
uses, presents, clearly and compactly, the few points 
in which that eminent lexicographer stands alone, in 
certain peculiarities, as well as those in which he is 
sustained by the sanction of the best dictionary- 
compilers of England. — An erroneous impression 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 49 

prevails, with some teachers, that, on account of the 
great general excellencies of Webster's dictionary, 
it is a duty to adopt it unreservedly, and to foUo^v it, 
as a standard, in all its peculiarities. This would 
be carrying our respect for the venerable author to a 
species of man- worship, which the native independ- 
ence of our language has hitherto forbidden it from 
rendering to the most profoundly learned of its lexi- 
cographers. Neither Johnson, who swayed the in- 
tellectual and moral world of his day, nor Walker, 
to whom Sheridan and Burke ascribed a consum- 
mate mastery of " the harmonies and elegancies " of 
the English language, was permitted to prescribe a 
universal standard of usage in orthography or in 
pronunciation. Most of the peculiarities of these emi- 
nent authorities, were shunned, — not copied; and to 
accord to Webster a submissive adoption of his, would 
be an act of servility, which neither the characteris- 
tic freedom of our language, nor the independent 
spirit of our people, ought to be expected to yield. 



Words of variable Orthography. 

Suggestio7is to Teoxhers. — The words presented 
in the following columns, are not found uniform in 
the orthography, even of eminent authors, either Bri- 
tish or Am^erican. In the larger number of instan- 
ces, however, writers distinguished for critical accu- 
racy of style, manifest a preference for one mode of 
spelling; and in those cases in which there is an 
obvious preponderance of such authority, it is pro- 
perly regarded as the law of usage. Words of tliis 
class, in the list subjoined, are given in that form 
only which has this sanction : words in regard to 
which the weight of authority is divided, and nearly 
balanced, are presented in double form ; and, what- 

5 



50 



EXEPwCISES ON WORDS. 



ever degree of preference may be justly claimed, is 
indicated in tlie orthography of that form of the given 
word which occurs first, in order. 

While offering this aid to the regularity of in- 
struction, the author will not, he hopes, be regarded 
as dictating to his felloAV teachers. His aim is mere- 
ly to facilitate uniformity of practice, in schools and 
classes, in this important branch of practical educa- 
tion ; and it would greatly assist the attainment of 
the end now in view, if every teacher would make, 
for the benefit of his own school, a corresponding 
list of words of variable orthography selected accord- 
ing to his own critical judgment, and have his pupils 
daily transcribe from it, at his dictation, or from his 
inscription on the blackboard, a certain number of 
words, on a card, or in a book, kept always at hand, 
as a standard of reference. — Students of advanced 
standing will also be greatly benefited by preparing 
such a list for themselves, as a companion or sup- 
plement to the dictionary. 



Abattis X 
abatis ) 
asthetic ) 
aesthetic ) 
apostasy- 
artisan ) 
artizan ) 
bachelor 
banian ) 
banyan ) 
behoove ) 
behove ( 
bellwether i 
belwether \ 
byzantine 
buzz 

camlet ) 
camblet ) 
catchup i 
catsup J 
chestnut 
scion 
cion 



} 



abridgment ) 
abridgement ) 
aide-de-camp ) 
aid-de-camp ) 
ascendency- 
autocracy 
baluster / 
banister ) 
basin 
bellman ) 
helm an ) 

bequeath ) 
bequeathe ) 
brier ) 
briar ) 
camphor 
carabine ) 
carbine ) 
causeway 
chillness 
chilness 
cipher 



advertise 
alchemist 
anapest 
apall 

athenseum ) 
atheneum j 
arquebuse 1 
arquebus ) 
bateau ) 
batteau ( 
bourgeois 

binnacle ) 
binacle j 
bunn 
caldron 
canvas 



aerie ) 
eyry ) 
ankle 
apprise ) 
apprize ) 
axe 

bandanna 
battledoor ] 
battledore | 
bellmetal ) 
belmetal ) 

bodice ) 
boddice ) 
burr 
calligraphy ) 



caraway 

checker 

centre 

cigar 

segar ] 

clinch 



i 



I cigar ) 

) segar f 



caligraphy 

carcass 

chemistry 

chameleon 

cimeter ) 

scymitar ) 

contemporary 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 



51 



connection ^ 
connexion ) 
cutlass 
decrepit 
develop ) 
develope ) 
dcwspatch / 
dispatch ( 
downfall [ 
downfal ) 
ecstasy- 
enigma 

encyclopaedia | 
encyclopedia J 
ingrain 
aesthetics ) 
esthetics ) 
fillibeg ) 
phillibeg ) 
frustum 
gauge 
gimlet ) 
gimblet j 

gypsy I 

gypsey ) 
hoarhound ? 
horehound ) 



hoyden 
install ) 
instal ) 
gnarled 
licorice 
liquorice 
loath " 
loth 

maltreat ) 
maletreat ) 
moccason | 






moccasm ) 
negotiate 
oxyd ) 
oxide J 
peddler ) 
pedlar ) 
philtre ) 
philter J 
practise (verb) 



cosey 
cue 

cyclopaedia ) 
cyclopedia j 
development | 
developement ) 
distention ) 
distension ) 
dryly ) 
drily ) 
embody } 
imbody ) 
endorse ) 
indorse f 
envelop (verb) 
fagot / 
faggot f 
forestall 
frenetic } 
phrenetic ) 
gayety ) 
gaiety f 
granddaughter ) 
grandaughter j 
group \ 
groupe { 
height 



craunch ] 
cranch ) 
defence 
dependence 
dexterous ) 
dextrous ) 
domicile ) 
domicil ) 
dryness 
driness 
enclose 
inclose f 
inquire J 
enquire ) 
envelopment 
envelopement 
ferrule 
foretell 
frenzy 
fulfill ) 
fulfil [ 
gayly I 
gaily ; 
gray } 
grey J 
headache ) 
headach f 






holiday ) 
holyday J 
jonquille 
lackey ) 
laquey J 
loadstar 
lodgment 
lodgement ) 
marquis 
merchandise 
molases ) 
melasses ) 
offence 
pacha ) 
pasha ) 
phantasm 
phantom 
plough 
ploughshare 
pretence 



hydrangea 
jail 

judgment ) 
judgement ) 
lacquer ) 
lacker ) 
malcontent ) 
malecontent ) 
mattress 
metre 
mosquito 
mould 
ottar } 
otto J 
panel ) 
pannel ) 
phial ) 
vial ) 
porpoise ) 
porpus ) 



crumb ) 

crum ) 

dependent 

deposit 

dyke 

diocese 

dote 1 

doat ( 

dulness ) 

dullness ) 

empassioned \ 

impassioned J 

inquiry ) 

enquiry ) 
) era 
) filigree ) 

filagree ( 

found ery ) 

foundry J 

fulness ) 

fullness ) 

fusee I 

fusil J 

gibe ) 

jibef 

gulf ) 

gulph 5 

hinderance ) 

hindrance ) 

innuendo 

jailer 

justle ) 

jostle ) 

lavender ) 

lavendar ) 

malpractice } 

malepractice ) 

meagre 

misspell ) 

mispell 5 

mustache ) 

moustache ) 

paralyse ) 

paralyze ) 

partisan 1 

partizan ) 

ploughman 

postilion I 

postillion ) 



52 



EXERCISES ON WORDS. 



pupillary 
recognise 
Saviour ) 
savior ) 
scythe 
sergeant ) 
Serjeant ( 
sienite ) 
syenite ) 
smallness ) 
smalness J 
soothe (verb) 
steelyard ) 
stillyard ) 
sirloin ) 
surloin j 
tranquillise 
unroll ) 
unrol ) 
villany ) 
villainy ) 
whisky ) 
whiskey f 
AVOoUen 



irie I 
3ry ) 



purr 
reveri 
revery 
sceptical 
sentinel 
sheathe (verb) 
shyly ) 
shily f 
syrup ) 
sirup ) 
smooth {verb) 
spectre 
stillness ) 
stilness ) 



systematise ) 
systematize ( 

! 
1 



trousers 
trowsers 
vermilion 
Vermillion 
vizier 
wintry ) 
wintery 5 
wreathe (verb) 



pygmy ) 
pigmy 5 
sceptic 
scepticism 
sequin 
show 
shyness ) 
shiness ) 
skull ) 
scull ) 
somerset 
spinach "( 
spinage j 
theatre 
tallness ) 
talness ) 
turquoise } 
turkois ) 
vial } 
phial ) 
wagon ) 
waggon ) 
wizard ) 
wizzard ) 



ratan ) 
rattan ) 
sceptre 
scion ) 
cion ( 
shrillness ) 
shrilness J 
slvly ) 
slily f 
slyness ) 
sliness ) 
stanch ) 
staunch ) 
ton 

toilet 1 
toilette j 
unbiassed ) 
unbiased \ 
villanous ) 
villainous ) 
welsh ) 
v/elch ) 
woe ) 
wo 5 



EXERCISE III. 

SYLLx\BICATION. 

Introductory Explanations.^ — Ortliograpliy, as a 
branch of grammar, includes whatever regards the 
component letters of a Avord, and consequently takes 
cognizance of their grouping, or arrangement in clus- 
ters, corresponding to the necessary division of words 
into parts, by the natural action of the organs of 
speech. To these parts is given the grammatical 
designation of" syllables", {jportions taken together ;) 
and the process of making these divisions, is accord- 
ingly termed syUahication. 

The process of syUabication is appropriately em- 
ployed, in systematic instruction, as a means of faci- 
litating the young learner's first attempts in pronoun- 
cing polysyllables. The multiplicity of letters pre- 
sented in such words, would confuse and embarrass 
his unpractised eye. But he finds that he can man- 
age them more easily by reducing the word, for the 
moment, to the footing of a monosyllable, by sepa- 
rating it into its constituent syUables, and taking 
them up, one by one. He is, in this way, enabled 
to master the whole word by enunciating a syllable 

^ The introductory explanations which precede the statement 
of the practical exercise, in this and other instances, are meant 
to be adapted, by the requisite oral modifications from the teach- 
er, to the capacity of the class under his instruction. The chief 
purpose of such explanatory teaching, is not so much to remove 
difficulties, as to attract attention to the subject, by presenting it 
in interesting forms, which may give it a freshness of aspect to 
the mind.- 

-5* . (53) 



54 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

at a time, and, afterwards, the whole series, in se- 
quence, as one word. 

But, important as syllabication is, in the aid which 
it renders to audible reading, it is not less so in the 
dividing of words to the eye, — as an assistance to 
the silent perusal of the ivritten page. In "writing, a 
word sometimes occurs so near to the end of one 
line, that all its letters or syllables cannot be con- 
tained in that line, and part of them must be carried 
into the next. It becomes a matter of importance, 
then, that, in solving this practical difficulty, the di- 
vision be appropriately made, in conformity with the 
component parts of the word ; otherwise, the eye 
may be confused by a collocation of letters which 
baffles or misleads the mind, in its attempt to recog- 
nise the successive syllables, and consequently leaves 
the reader at a loss for the sense of what is written. 

The general rule given on this subject, by gram- 
marians, is, that, in syllabication, words should be 
divided by arranging the letters in groups correspond- 
ing to those into which they naturally fall, in correct 
pronunciation. This rule would be, in all cases, a 
safe guide ; and there could be no perplexity in at- 
tempting to apply it, were the question one which 
related to the usage of spoken language, which con- 
sults the ear rather than the eye. The rule, accord- 
ingly, holds good in oral spelling, in which syllabica- 
tion is employed as an aid to pronunciation ; and, in 
the columns of the spelling-book, therefore, the 
learner may find such words as baker, maker, turner, 
assistance, etc., divided thus ; ba-ker, ma-ker, tiir-ner, 
as-sis'toMce , etc. 

In the case of written language, in its general 
forms, however, the sound of words and syllables to 
the ear, not being the main object of attention, the 
syllabication of a word is performed with more regard 
to the action of the eye, as suggesting the r/zeaning 
to the mind, by a division of the word according to 



SYLLABICATION. 55 

its etymology. The Avritten form of a word com- 
monly reveals its derivation ; which is not necessa- 
rily the fact in spoken langua^ge ; as the successive 
changes and, sometimes, the corruptions of speech 
throw an utter obscurity over the actual orthography 
and derivation of many words. Hence the greater 
tendency, in wiiting, to favor, to a certain extent, the 
et^aiiological rather than the orthoepical mode of 
syllabication. If, therefore, v/e adopt, in written ex- 
pression, the general rule before quoted, we must 
make allowance for certain exceptions, in which the 
former of these modes is followed, to the exclusion 
of the latter. 

It would be a great convenience, in the interpreta- 
tion of \TOtten language, if, in those instances in 
which a division of words into syllables becomes 
necessary, we could carry the principle of etymo- 
logical syllabication through all the parts of a word. 
But custom, which has absolute sv/ay in all matters 
of language, has so habituated the eye, in tracing 
the lines of written composition, to obey the early 
rule of practice in or?d syllabication, that to deviate 
from it would be an oiFence. Thus, we could not 
endure a syllabic division such as this, — sah-at-ioii, 
pre-fat-or-ij, — although it presents the actual deriva- 
tion and composition, and suggests, at once, the 
proper signification of the words. The rule of ap- 
proved custom, v/e find, limits the etymological 
division to terminations and, in particular, to affixes, 
or suffixes, and witholds it, in many cases, even from 
prefixes. The principle, therefore, of dividing words 
into syllables corresponding to the derivation and 
composition of their parts, while it does not uniformly 
apply to initial, and seldom to middle syllables, holds 
good in sufiixes, and detaches them from the roots 
which precede them, so as to leave the root of a 
word, — the mam key to its meaning, — a full and 



56 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

distinct effect on tlie eye and the mind. Hence, in 
passing from the speUing-book, (which is primarily 
intended to be used as an introductory aid to the 
audible process of reading aloud,) to the dictionary, . 
(which is intended as a guide, not only in orthoepy, 
but in orthography, in its strict acceptation of w^ritten 
spelling, and in the definition of terms, and is used 
for silent reference, rather than oral practice,) the 
learner will find the words formerly quoted, divided 
thus : bak-er, mak-er, turn-er, as-sist-ance. 

Exercise. — The most convenient form of 
prescribing and performing exercises in syllabica- 
tion, is to unite them with those in written spell- 
ing, as suggested under the preceding head of 
" Orthography." It is a great economy of time, 
and, at the same moment, an exceedingly useful 
training, to present, in the act of writing the 
w^ords prescribed by the teacher, the proper sylla- 
bication of every one, marked by the hyphen, 
along with its orthography. Opportunity, also, is 
thus found for accustoming the pupil to the 
proper discrimination, in the practice of written 
spelling, as regards the difference between it and 
oral spelling, in the terminations of the classes of 
w^ords referred to in a preceding paragraph, in 
connection with the distinction to be observed be- 
tween orthographical and etymological spelling. 

Examples of Rules in Written Syllabication. 

I. "When a single consonant follows the naine 
sound of the vowels, a, e, i, o, u, y, the consonant 
falls into the succeeding syllable ; as in ha-h, fe- 
male, ti-ny, ho'ly, chi-ly, thy -my. 

II. Wiien a single consonant follows the short 



SYLLABICATION. 57 

sound of the vowels a, e, i, o, u, y, it is attached 
to the vov/el ; as in al-mn^ ev-er, im-age, horn-age, 
itjJ'On, liyp-o-crite, 

III. When two consonants occur between two 
vowels, one of the consonants is attached to the 
preceding, and the other to the latter vowel ; as in 
ac-tit-ate, fes-tive, im-jjede, oc-tave, un-der, cym- 
hal, 

Exceptions, — The suffixes -er and -iiig, as in 
task-er, kijid-er, vast-er, act-mg, gasp-ing, xvasi-ing. 

lY. When three consonants occur betv/een two 
vowels, the first consonant is commonly attached to 
the former, and the last two, to the latter vowel ; as 
in dis'place, itp-hraid, itn-dress, oh-stritct, con-gress, 
con- chide, dis-tress. 

y. The suffixes, -ed, -er, and -ing, commonly con- 
stitute a separate syllable from the other syllables or 
letters of a word; as in act-ed, mark-ed, ivcvrp-ed, 
read-er, ivait-er, iveav-er, read-ing, wait-ing, iveav-ing. 

Exce]Dtions.—-{l.) When the suffixes, -ed, -er, and 
'ing, follow the liquids, /, m, n, preceded by a single 
vowel, the liquid is attached to the suffix ; as in ta- 
mer, ta-ming, ti-ler, ti-ling, shi-ner, shi-ning. - — (2.) 
When they follow c or ^ soft, the consonant is at- 
tached to the suffix ; as in ra-ce7\ ra-cing, %va-ger, 
iva-ging. — (3.) When they follow a double conso- 
nant, the latter of the two consonants is attached to 
the suffix ; as in sad-der, glad-der, lad-der, hiah-hing, 
Quad-der, mad-ding, cram-niing, rap-ping, hat-ter, hat- 
ting, hei-ter, het-ting, jit-ter, fit-ting, stop-per, stop-inng, 
hut-ter, hut-ting, ciip-per, ciip-ping. 

Suggestions. — In the process of correcting errors 
in orthography, on the plan formerly proposed, it 
should be the corrector's duty, in all cases, to mark, 
also, errors in syllabication ; and, when the teacher 
adopts the method of writing, on the blackboard, a 
model exemplification of the words of the lesson in 



58 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

orthography, so as to furnish a standard for deciding 
the propriety of corrections, he should uniformly 
insert the hyphen between the syllables of all the 
words of the lesson. 

The early formation of correct habit, makes a 
careful attention to this branch of practical gram- 
mar, a matter of great importance to accuracy and 
despatch, in whatever form of business requires the 
skill of a correct and ready writer. 



EXERCISE IV. 
ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 

Introductory Explanations. — The orthoepy, or- 
thography, and syUabication of words, havmg re- 
ceived due attention, the learner's next step should 
be, to acquire a knowledge of the significance of 
eveiy constituent syllable of a word selected for 
study. Words being the representatives of ideas, 
the study of them becomes, vhtually, the study of 
ideas, — the observation of the facts and modes of 
intellectual action; and the peculiar value of that 
part of education wliich has to do with language, is 
that, of all foniis of expression which we can con- 
template, none lies so near to the mind itself, — none 
is so purely intellectual, as language ; — none is so 
happily suited to employ and discipline those mental 
faculties, the possession of which constitutes man 
an image of God. The cro^vning endowment con- 
ferred on man, which renders tliis resemblance to 
his Creator manifest, is speech, — the wondrous 
power by which thought is uttered in the audible 
form of words. By these instruments of power do 
the poet and the orator inspire and sway the minds 
of their fellow men, through successive ages. For 
centuries, have the words of such men been the 
study and the delight of mankind ; and the "written 
volumes through wliich they, '' being dead, yet 
speak," have, in aU civilised countries, justly fur- 
nished the material for the highest intellectual cul- 
ture of the human race. 

To appreciate the true value, or feel the full power 

(59} 



60 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

of any form of expression, or even to understand 
aright the meaning of a word, we must perceive dis- 
tinctly the significance of every one of its compo- 
nent s^dlables, or even of its very letters, taken 
singly. The language v/hich we inherit comes down 
to us from remote ages, and is composed, to a great 
extent, of words borrowed from other languages ; 
and, to understand or use it rightly, we must refer to 
ancient and foreign tongues, in order to become in- 
telligent and expert in the use of our own. Persons 
who enjoy the privilege of a full knowledge of these 
languages, possess a peculiar advantage, in this 
respect ; and such knowledge is exceedingly de- 
sirable. But, as few, comparatiA^ely, are thus favored, 
the majority of those who speak English, in its con- 
temporary form, must, in referring to the exact mean- 
ing of many words, depend on the aid of those who, 
as lexicographers and compilers of dictionaries, have 
rendered the sources of our language accessible to 
all who choose to resort to them. 

An important part, therefore, of early education, is 
occupied w^ith the process of investigating the mean- 
ing of words, by reference to dictionaries v/hich ena- 
ble us to trace their derivation, and thus to obtain 
the benefit of a full course of instruction in that part 
of grammar which is termed " etymology," — the 
science of derivation. 

Our language is a compound made up of many 
elements. But, among these, one predominates, as 
primitive and simplest, and as most easily intelligible, 
and strikingl3/ expressive, because it consists of those 
words which are in common use in our homes, and 
which we hear and learn in our childhood. It is the 
language which our mothers address to us, in our in- 
fancy, and which, in all its w^ords, w^e have associated 
not with other words but with things themselves. 
When we are old enough to enter the world of 
books, we find there many other words intermingled 



ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 61 

with those of our vernacular tongue ; and, by de- 
grees, we gather their meanings from those of the 
home words "with which they are synonymous, and 
which are ah*eady famihar to us. This mixed dialect 
we hear adults around us using daily, partly in con- 
versation on elevated subjects, but, still more, in pub- 
lic addresses on matters of general concern and 
excursive thought. We thus become accustomed 
personally, in due season, to its use, as best adapted 
to expansive ideas, abstract reasoning, a^rgumentative 
discussion, and philosophical theorising. 

To understand perfectly these uses of language, 
we must know the primitive meanings of the words 
which Vv^e find prevailing in the forms of expression 
adopted in books, and which we have not been ac- 
customed to use in familiar connection ^vith the ob- 
jects which they represent. Such words have only 
a secondary, and, as it were, a shado^vy meaning to 
our minds, till we have learned to connect them, in- 
dividuaUy, VvT-ith a corresponding word in our own 
primitive or vernacular language, rvvhich ^vord ^ve at 
once refer to the tiling Avhich it signifies. The idea 
thus called up, is like the familiar face of an old 
friend, contrasted Avith the countenance of one who 
is a stranger, and kllo^vn to us as merely a human 
being. 

The dictionary offers us its assistance in our at- 
tempts to trace the primary connections of words 
'with objects, in those instances in which the recog- 
nition of this connection depends on a knoAvledge of 
the original languages from Avhich a large part of our 
own is derived. The faithful study of the dic- 
tionary, therefore, becomes the condition of our right 
understanding of many words. Take, for example, 
the word astronomy. We know, from what we have 
heard, or read, that it refers to a knowledge of the 
stars. But it is not till we have learned that the 
word is made up of two Greek words, astron, "-star," 
6 



C2 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

or constellation, and nomos, "law," or science, that 
we understand the full value of the English word 
thus derived and compounded. 

Exercises in etymological analysis, are the only 
means of enabling the young student to feel at home 
in all parts of his OAvn language, and to use its w^ords 
with intelligent and discriminating effect. 

Exercise. — (1.) Prefixes. — A preliminary 
course of instruction and practice in etymology, 
consists in tracing, in the manner exemplified 
in the following lists, the signification of those 
words which constitute the initial syllable or 
syllables of many English words, and have hence 
received the designation of " prefixes ", or w^ords 
or syllables prefixed to other words, to modify 
their meaning. 

Suggestions to Teachers, — It is greatly to be de- 
sired that a complete course of exercises in the ety- 
mological analysis of words, should form a part of 
grammatical instruction, in all schools, and that every 
spelling-book should, at least, comprise a brief course 
of lessons on the use and signification of prefixes 
and suffixes. Lynd's series of etymological manuals, 
and Oswald's etymological Dictionary, are excellent- 
ly adapted to the former purpose ; and teachers who 
make use of the improved edition of the spelling- 
book compiled by the author of the present work, 
will find, in that manual, a selection of lessons pre- 
pared for the latter purpose. "^ 

=^- One of the most valuable school-books, as a guide to exact 
and complete information on all points of etymology, as well as 
every other subject, connected with the study of the English lan- 
guage, is the dictionary of Mr. Alexander Reid of Edinburgh, re- 
edited by the late Professor Henry Reed of Philadelphia, and 
published by Appleton & Co., New York. 



ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 63 

For the convenience of teachers in whose schools 
etymological analysis has not been introclnced, as a 
regnlar branch of instrnction, the follo^ving outline is 
submitted, as an aid to the performance of exercises 
by the pupil. The matter here presented may, at 
the discretion of the teacher, be prescribed in daily 
successive portions, on the blackboard, for the pur- 
pose of being transcribed and committed to memory, 
by the pupil, and presented in examples additional 
to the following.^ 

A List of the jprincipal original English, or Saxo7i, 
Prefixes. 

A-, signifying on, to, in, at : Examples, A-foot, a- 
head, a-bed, a-side. — Be-, to make, to give: Be- 
dim, be-calm, be-cloud, be-stow. — Down, Do^vn-fall, 
down-lying, do^vn- sitting. — For-, signifying away: 
Examples, For-bid, for-get, for-give, for-sake. — Fore-, 
before : Fore-see, fore-tell, fore-show, fore-arm, fore- 
warn. — Mis-, error, ill, defect: ]Mis-take, mis-deed, 
mis-demeanor, mis-lead. — Out-, beyond: Out-bid, 
out-do, out-run, out-vie. — Over-, beyond: Over- 
reach, over-set, over-do, over-look, over-see. — Un-, 
not, do aivay : Un-able, un-apt, un-fair, un-bar, un- 
fold, un-do. — Under-, Under-mine, under-go, un- 
der-rate. — Up-, Up-hold, up-take, up-bear, up-heave. 
— AViTH- signifying /)'(97?^, against : With-drav/, VvT-ith- 
liold, with- stand. 

Prefixes of Latin Origin, 
A-, AB-, signifying /r(9?7^, aivay : Examijles, A-bate, 

=^ Words selected from the reading-lesson of the day, will al- 
ways be found the most interesting, as well as immediately use- 
ful, material for class-exercises in the various forms of etymologi- 
cal analysis. A limited number of words may be assigned, for 
this purpose, from those which are given out for practice in or- 
thography. 



64 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

(bate from;) a-vert, (turn from;) ab-ject, (thrown;^) 
ab-jiire, (swear;) ab-rupt, (broken.) — Ad-, sometimes 
changed, for the effect of euphony, into a-, ac-, af-, 
ag-, at', ajj', ar-, as-, at-, signifying to : Ad-join,! a- 
scend, (climb;) accord, (agree;) af-fiux, (flowing;) 
ag-gravate, (make heavy ;) al-lot; annex, (tie;) ap- 
proach, (draw near;) ar-rive, (flow;) as-snme, (take;) 
at-tach, (fasten. )-Ante-, before: Ante-cedent, (going;) 
ante-diluvian, (flood;) ante-mundane, (world;) ante- 
date. — Bi-, tivice, tivo, double: Bi-ennial, (year;) bi- 
furcate, (pronged;) bi-valve, (shell.) — Cis-, on this 
side : Cis-alpine, Cis-atlantic. — Con-, changed, for 
euphony, into co-, cog-, col-, com-, cor-, signifying luith, 
together : Con-cur, % co-equal, cog-nate, (born, allied ; ) 
col-lect, (gather;) com-pose, (put;) con-nect (bind;) 
cor-re spend, (answer.) — Contra-, or counter-, a- 
gainst^ opposite: Contra-diet, (say;) contra-vene, 
(come ;) counter-act, counter-part. — De-, doivn,froin : 
De-duct, (draw;) de-ject, (throw;) de-cease, (with- 
draw;) de-ter, (frighten;) de-scencl, (climb.) — Dis-, 
DI-, or DIF-, away, aside, not: Dis-arm, dis-ease, dis- 
o^vvn, di-gress, (go;) divert, (turn;) dif-ferent, (bear- 
ing;) dis-agree; dis-place, clis-please. — Ex-, or E-, 
EC-, EF-, out: Ex-pand, ex-hume, (ground;) ex- 
trude, (thrust;) ex-clude, (close;) e-mit, (send.) e- 
ject, (throAv;) ec-centric, (centre;) ef-fuse, (shed.) 
— Extra-, beyond: Extra-mural, (wall;) extra-mun- 
dane, (world;) extra- ordinary ; extra-vagant, (wan- 
dering.) — In-, or IL-, IM-, IR-, EN-, EM-, in, into, on; 



^ To avoid unnecessary repetitions, the signification of the 
prefix is left to be understood and supplied by the pupiL 

t Y/hen the root of the ^yord is familiar English, its meaning is 
left to be inferred. 

% The meaning of the Latin word which forms the root of the 
derivative, is, in some instances, necessarily assumed, in the above 
list. In the performance of exercises, it may be given by the 
teacher, or obtained from tlie dictionary, as may seem advisable, 
according to the stage of advancement attained by different classes. 



ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 65 

Induce, (lead ;) in-fuse, (shed ;) in-grain ; il-lumine, 
(shiDe;) im-pel, (drive;) in-fuse, (shed;) ir-ro.diate, 
(beam ;) en-chain ; en-grave ; em-body ; em-bahii. 

Note. — The prefix in-, in its various forms, has 
sometimes the signification oi not or un-. Examples, 
In-vincible, (conquerable;) m-tolerable, (bearable;) 
il-limitable, (to be bounded;) il-licit (lawful;) im- 
pure ; im-passable ; ir-regular, (according to rule ;) ir- 
repressible, (to be put down.) 

Intek.-, hetweeri, among : Inter-pose, (put;) inter- 
sperse, (scatter ;) inter- vene, (come ;) inter-lude, 
(play.) — Intro-, xvithin, inward: Intro-duce, (lead;) 
intro-vert, (turn ;) intro-spection, (looking.) — Non-, 
not, Non-arrival ; non-intercourse ; non-intervention. 

— Ob-, or 0C-, or-, op-, against, opposite : Ob-trude, 
(thrust;) ob-ject, (throvv^;) occlude, (shut,) of-fend, 
(strike;) op-pose, (place.) — Vy.^-, through, Per-ma- 
nent, (staying ;) per-vade, (go;) per-meate, (wander, 
wind ;) per-mit, (send ;) percussion, (striking.) — 
Post-, after. Post-pone, (place ;) post-obit, (death ;) 
post-humous, (earth.) — Pre-, before, Pre-cede, (go;) 
prefer, (bring, put ;) pre-occupy ; premonition, (warn- 
ng;) pre -hide, (play ;) pre-clude, (shut.) — V^io-, for, 
forth, Pro-consul; pro-ceed, (go;) pro-mote, (move;) 
pro-trude, (thrust.) — Preter-, beyond, past: Preter- 
natural; preter-mission, (sending.) — He-, again, back, 
He-sume, (take ;) re-place ; renew ; re-volve, (turn ;) 
re-act; re-vert, (turn;) re-bel, (fight;) re-sist, (stand.) 

— Retro-, backward. Retrocession, (going;) retro- 
action, retro-grade, (step ;) retro-spection, (looking.) 

— Se-, apart, Se-cede, (go;) se-gregate, (gather;) 
se-duce, (draw.) — Sub-, sue-, sup-, undvcr. Sub-ju- 
gate, (yoke;) sub-ordinate, (rank;) sub-tract, (draw;) 
suf-fer, (bear;) suf-fix; sup-pose (put;) sup-press. 
Super-, over, above, upon. Super-fine, super- vision, 
(seeing;) super-natural; super-position, (placing;) 
super-vene, (come ;) super-sede (sit.) — Trans-, 

6^ 



66 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

over, beyond, Trans-fer, (cany ;) trans-pose, (place ;) 
trans-gress, (go;) trans- Atlantic ; trans-ition, (going;) 
trans -plant. 

Prefixes of Greek Origin, 

A-, signifying %vitliout: Examples, A-theist, (^vith- 
out God;) a-morplious, (shape;) a-tony, (tone.) — 
Amphi-, double; Amphibious, (life;) amphi -theatre. 
— Ana-, v(p, tl trough, Analyse, (solve;) ana-tomy, 
(cut, divide.) — Anti-, against, opposite, Anti-febrile, 
(fever;) anti-dote, (given); anti-podes, (feet.) — 
Kvo-, from, Apo-strophe, (turn;) apo-state, (stand- 
ing:) apo-stle, (sent.) — Dia-, or ni-, tlirougli: Dia- 
meter, (measure;) dia-gonal, (corner;) di-eeresis, (di- 
vision, separation.) — Epi-, on, Epi-gram, (wiitten;) 
epi-taph, (tomb ;) epi-dermis, (skin.) — Hyper-, over, 
Hyper-bole, (cast;) hyper-criticism. Hypo-, %mder, 
Hypo-thesis, (placing;) hypo-gene, (earth.) — Meta-, 
beyond, Meta -physical, (natural;) meta-phor, (carry;) 
meta-morphosis, (shaping.) — Para-, from, beyond, 
Para-phrase, (expression ;) para-graph, (writing ;) 
para-dox, (opinion, thought.) — Peri- around: Peri- 
meter, (measure ;) peri-patetic, (walking ;) peri- 
scope, (view.) — Syn-, or sym-, together. Synod, 
(going ;) syn-tax, (arranging ;) syn-thesis, (placing ;) 
sym-})athy, feeling ; sym-metry, (measuring ;) sym- 
phony, (sounding.) 

Exercise. — (2.) Affixes^ or Suffixes!"' — The 
second step in etymological analysis leads to the 
study of the final syllables of words, for the pur- 
pose of tracing their special significance, as an 

=^ The former of the above designations, is generally adopted 
by English, the latter by American writers. The latter term is 
the more signifieant as regards the closeness of the connection be- 
tween the root and the termination of a word, the actual position 
of the final syllable, and its comparatively inferior character. 



ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 67 

aid to the full and exact comprehension of the 
meaning of the whole word which is, for the time, 
the object of attention. The mode of performing 
an exercise on suffixes, corresponds to that which 
has been prescribed and exemplified under pre- 
fixes. 

Note, — The root of the word, when, in any case, 
it is not familiar to the mind of the pupil, may be 
obtained by referring to the teacher, or to the dic- 
tionary, as may be expedient for individuals or 
classes. 

Original English Suffixes. 

-ER, signifying one ivho : Examples, Mak-er, wait- 
er, hold-er. ling, -kin, 5??^a/Z; Gos-ling, lord-ling, 

lamb -kin, manni-kin. hood, condition : Child-hood, 

boy -hood, man-hood. ness, quality, state: Bold- 
ness, good-ness, remote-ness. th, condition: Death, 

youth, health, wealth. en, ma^fe of: Gold- en, earth- 
en, wood-en. ship, office, condition: Clerk-ship, 

hard-ship, friend-ship. 

Suffixes derived from the Latin language through 
the French, 

-AN, -ANT, -ENT, onc ivho is, docs, makes, or belongs to : 
Artis-an, serv-ant, attend-ant, ag-ent, depencl-ent, 

constitu-ent. ar, or -ard, ojie who is or does: Li-ar, 

begg-ar, cow-ard, dot-ard. ee, 07ie to whom any- 
thing is given or done : Trust-ee, legat-ee. eer, 

one %vho is or does: Mountain - e er, mutin- eer, volunt- 
eer. ACY, condition, state : Suprem-ac}^, obstin-acy, 

obdur-acy. age, condition, state : Bond-age, peer- 
age, marri-age. ance, -ancy, -ence, -ency, act, 

condition, state : Guid-ance, compli-ance, const-ancy, 
vagr-ancy, depend-ence, dilig-ence, ag-ency, dec- 
ency. ION, act, state : Un-ion, convers-ion, act-ion, 



68 EXERCISES ON WOUDS. 

addit-ion. ment, condition, state, act: Embarrass- 

ment, amiise-nient, jiidge-nient, invest-nient, arbitra- 
ment. ORY, ]^)lace or thing ivhich: Fact-oiy, repert- 
ory, orat-ory, liist-ory. ude, condition, state, tendency : 

Attit-ude, gratit-iide, latit-nde, habit-iide. ty, con- 

dition, state, tendency: Humili-t^r, civili-ty, punctuali- 
ty. - — TJRE, tiling, state: Creat-ure, lect-ure, post-ure, 
iiex-ure, fiss-ure. sy, thing, state, tendency : Courte- 
sy, niinstrel-sy, fanta-sy, aposta-sy. ary, 07ie ivho, 

01 tvhich: Advers-ar^^ mission-ary, commiss-ary, tribut- 
ary, 93stu-ary. ry, thing, place, a.rt, quality: Chival- 
ry, pant-ry, juggie-ry, brave-ry. ant, -ent, quality, 

character: Abund-ant, jubil-ant, independ-ent, confid- 
ent. AR, -ARY, quality, belonging to: Regul-ar, ocul- 
ar, custom-ary, planet- ary. ble, ccqjahle, ivorthy : 

Aud-ible, vis-ible, admir-able, lionor-able. ate, 

ofice, condition, cfdality, character, projjerty : Deleg- 
ate, candid-ate, episcop-ate adequ-ate, commensur- 
ate, orn-ate, obl-ate, prostr-ate ; conglomer-ate ist, 

office, occiiimtion: Art-ist, botan-ist, pian-ist. ive, 

condition, relation, tendency: Capt-ive, delus-ive, 
subvers-ive, abus-ive. — --aceous, mode of, belonging 

to: Farin-aceous, crust-aceous, lierb-aceous. iciotjs, 

abounding in, tendving to : Susp-icious, jud-icious, 

capr-icious. acious, abounding in, tending to : 

Ver-acious, mend-acious, contum-acious. eous, 

quality, proijcrty : Beaut-eous, dut-eous, ign-eous, 

iign-eous. ous, quality, projoerty : Covet-ous, 

prosper-ous, mountain-ous, conspicu-ous, gener-ous, 

oner-ous. al, signifying relating to : Examples, 

Aeri-al, brut-al, fat-al, judici-al, commerci-al, nav-al, 

agricultur-al. an, belonging to : Eom-an, Indi-an, 

republic-an. ivt, tending to: Viv-id, morb-id, stup- 
id. OR, 07ie ivho : Creat-or, spectat-or, orat-or, 

mediat-or, rect-or, protect-or. 

Suffixes derived from the Greek language, through 

the Latin. ics, art, or science: Polit-ics, opt-ics, 

mathemat-ics. — -ism, state, statement: Fanatic-ism, 



ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 69 

patriot-ism, barbar-ism, mttic-ism. — -is, thing, con- 
dition : Tlies-is, liypotlies-is, metaniorplios-is. 

Grammatical Suffixes, or Inflections. 

Suggestions to Teachers, — For tlie benefit of the 
youngest classes of pupils, it is important that the 
exercises in etymological analysis should extend 
to the practice of observing closely the character 
and miport of the modifications which the slightest 
changes in thought produce on the final syllables of 
words. These modifications should be carefully 
traced, in the tlu'ee great classes of inflected words, 
and reduced to writing, in forms adopted, at the 
discretion of the teacher, according to the mental 
condition of different classes. The following plan 
may be used as a suggestive outline. 

( 1 . ) Inflection of Nouns, 

-'s, signifying possession, JBxamples : Man'5 hfe ; 
the hoj's book; the horse'5 head. — s, jplurality ; 
Book, book^ ; hill, hilk ; river, rivers ; horse, horse.s ; 
house, houses ; tree, tree^. — -s' plurality and p)os- 
session: The horses' heads; the cow5' stalls; the 
boy^' hats. 

(2.) Adjectives, 

-ER, or R, signifying more, Exa7nples : A greats?* 
and a wiser than Solomon. Tins book is larger than 
that. Tliis is the longer one. — -est, or -st, most: 
The gYe^iXtest and the wise^^ of men ; the "wide^^^ and 
the longest river; the l^^aest mountain; the fahe^^ 
prospect. 

(3.) Verbs, 

-EST, or ST, signifying thou, ^ndi p^resent time. Ex- 
amples : Thou \oo\.est, thou heare^^, thou speake^^ ; 



70 EXERCISES ON WOUDS. 

tliou move^^^, thou love^?^, thou see5?^, thou can^?^. s, 

-ETH, or -TH, lie, she, or it, mid, present time : He looki*, 
she iTLOve^, it see^ ; he \oo\eth, she move^A, it see^/i. 

ED, or -D, action, or condition, and 2^^^^ time : I 

•waite<^, he move<i, they hear<i, we looke<:Z, she wan- 
der^<i, ye passg<:^, they stopperZ. edst, or -dst, ac- 
tion, or condition, past time and thou : Thou lookedst, 
thou heartZ^^, thou waitedst, thou shoukZ^^, thou 
movecZ^^. — -ING-, action, or condition, and present 
time : He is -w^&ing, I am standf^z^, they are sittz^?^, 
we are movmf 5 she is sleepz;?^, thou art runni^z^-, ye 
a.re restm^, it is dyf??^. 

Exercise in Review. — Give the meaning of 
the original English prefix a. Write examples : * 
read, and, if necessary, correct them. Go through 
all the classes of prefixes in the same manner. 
Give the meaning of all the classes of suffixes, 
and exemplify them in the same manner. 

Exercise. (3.) Primitive and Derivative Words ^ 
and Roots. 

Explanatory Observations. — When the prefix and 
suffix of a word have been discussed, by reference 
to their primitive signification, in the part of our lan- 
guage from which they are derived, there remains 
for analysis, or for investigation, the portion of the 
word which lies between the prefix and the suffix. 
This may be an original English word; or it may be 
derived from a Greek or a Latin word, or from one 
existing in any of the modern languages from which 
our own language is accustomed to borrow terms in 
which it is itself deficient or less appropriately furnish- 

'^ Examples may be taken from the columns of any school dic- 
tionary. The number of examples required should of course be 
regulated by the ability of the pupil or class. 



^xYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 71 

ed. This main part, or body of a word, from its im- 
portance, as principal, to the meaning of the Avhole, 
and from the hfe which it gives to the other compon- 
ent parts, is termed the root. To comprehend fully 
and appreciate properly the meaning of a complex 
word, such as we now refer to, we must ascertain 
the signification of the root, whether primitive or de- 
rivative, w^hich we do by tracing it to its connection 
with the object or idea Avhich it originally represent- 
ed. If the root is an original English word, or comes 
from any one of the great family of Teutonic dialects 
of which the Saxon is one, we recognise its mean- 
ing perfectly at sight, as it has been uniformly asso- 
ciated, from our childhood, with a definite object, or 
with an idea of the mind. In such cases, therefore, 
we seldom need to resort to the dictionary for aid : 
although, owing to the changes which time is always 
making on a living language, we shall find that, even 
in relation to vernacular words, much light is thrown 
upon their meaning, when we trace them to their 
primitive form and signification. A pecuhar signifi- 
cance and value may thus be given to a term per- 
fectly familiar to us, in daily use, but of which we 
had not felt the full force, from inadvertency as to 
its derivation. 

When the root of a word refers us to a Greek or 
Latm piimitive, our conception of its sense must, 
unless we are somewhat versed in these languages, 
be comparatively dim and imperfect, since we can- 
not verify the meaning by comparing the term with 
that which it represents. A dictionary of sufficient 
extent to furnish the derivation of words, then be- 
comes a friendly instructor, for the time, directing us 
to the information which we wanted. The use of 
such a dictionary, therefore, becomes indispensable 
to aU pupils who are of sufficient age and capacity 
to perform the etymological part of word- exercises ; 
and to the advanced student and the teacher its 



72 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

value is inexpressible. It is, in fact, the only re- 
liance, to all who are not skilled in ancient and mo- 
dern languages, for a critically correct interpretation 
and use of words. ^ 

Form of Exercise. — In writing the roots of 
complex words, the principal object of attention, 
with young pupils, is the entire separation of the 
root from the suffix ; as the mechanical tendency 
of ear and eye, in consequence of the habit form- 
ed by early training in orthography and syllabi- 
cation, is to present words divided not according 
to their derivation, but their style in oral and 
written spelling. The etymological part of word- 
exercises, should always contain an exact presen- 
tation of the entire root of every word, whether 
written on the blackboard, on the slate, or on 
paper. 

Note. — The apparent awkwardness of the com- 
bination of letters thus presented to the eye, is no 
objection to the practice recommended. On the 
contrary, it serves to aid a distinct impression on the 
mind, as to the fact which is, for the moment, before 
it ; and the previous careful training in written spel- 
ling and syllabication, in the forms which have been 
suggested, will always afford a sufficient guaranty 
for the correctness of habit in the ordinary forms of 
writing. 

The fall plan of exercises in etymological ana- 
lysis, including all the component elements of 

^ The octavo editions of Worcester and Webster, are suffi- 
cient for all the ordinary wants of students and teachers, in re- 
gard to etymology. Webster's, in particular, is very full, and 
highly instructive, in this branch. Reid's, formerly mentioned, is 
peculiary convenient for school use. 



ETYMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. 73 

words, may be exemplified thus, on the words 
Instruction and Destruction : 

Prefix. Root. Suffix. 

In- 'Struct' 'ion. 

Signification^ in, build, act, or condition. 

De- 'Struct' -ion. 

Sign, down, (un) build, act, or condition. 

Suggestions to Teachers. — The extent to which 
exercises on the roots of words may be carried, can 
be best decided, in all cases, by the teacher at the 
time of instruction. Classes too young for the use 
of a large dictionary, may have the roots of words 
inscribed for them, by the teacher or an advanced 
pupil, on the blackboard. All pupils, however, who 
are of sufficient age to be taught etymology, should 
be required to commit to memory, and exemplify 
fully, the prefixes and sufiixes of words. No class 
in any school can be deemed so far advanced as not 
to be greatly benefited by a daily lesson in etymolo- 
gy ; and of all word- exercises the etymological ana- 
lysis should ahvays be a prominent part.^ The 
most accomplished adult student will find it a high- 
ly useful as well as pleasing exercise, to prescribe 
himself a daily task of tliis description. At no slight- 
er cost can the student of the English language at- 
tain to that perfect mastery over it, which Milton 
attributes to the true scholar, whose words, he says, 
trip about him like so many nimble, airy servitors, 

=^ The preparation of a daily lesson on a given number of 
words from the successive columns of a dictionary, for successive 
years, is a light tax to pay for an intelligent, correct, and appro- 
priate use of our own language ', and in few other ways can the 
hours of youth be more usefully or agreeably occupied. The ety- 
mological analysis of the principal words of, at least, every read- 
ing lesson, in every class of a school, should be regarded as form- 
ing an indispensable part of the preparation for the reading of the 
lesson. 

7 . 



74 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

and fall obediently and aptly into their places. The 
unequalled copiousness of our language, makes a 
perfect command over its resources the business of 
many years, and demands, accordingly, an attention 
somewhat proportioned to that which, in the estab- 
lished routine of education, is assigned to the noble 
languages of antiquity. Fortunately, the education- 
al world, both in England and America, is awaken- 
ing to a juster sense than formerly prevailed, of the 
value of our own language, as the most effectual 
means of mental culture and discipline, whether we 
regard the acquirements of the individual, or the 
business of social life. 

To the teacher, in the daily toils of the school- 
room, no exercise can be suggested, on which the 
young mind seizes with such avidity, as that of trac- 
ing the meaning of words by their derivation. A 
few oral explanations, given as an experiment, will 
be sufficient to convince any who have not already 
adopted this part of grammatical instruction, of its 
immense value and its living interest. After an 
earnest and arduous day's work on other subjects, 
classes quite young will turn with eagerness to this. 
The dawning consciousness of both its own wants 
and its own powers, stimulates the young mind to 
inquire into and investigate everything connected 
with language, which it instinctively feels to be its 
peculiar scope for action and progress. The con- 
sciousness of expanding and deepening knowledge, 
which, in this direction, rewards every advancing 
step, is ample remuneration for every effort. 



EXERCISE V. 
I SIGNIFICATION AND MEANING OF WORDS. 

Introductory Explanations. — Derivation, or etymo- 
logical analysis, enables us to trace a word to the 
original signification and consequent value of all its 
constituent parts. We are thus put in command of 
the true meaning and full power of the words which 
we wish to use, and are prepared to deal with them 
not as mere counters, but the sterling current coin 
of language, whose value we ourselves appreciate, 
and others feel and acknowledge. 

The word instruction, already analysed, we may 
take as a convenient example of the nature and use 
of the particular form of word- exercise on which we 
are now ready to enter. The etymological analysis, 
by which the word was reduced to its component 
parts, showed that of these there were no fewer 
than three ; of which the first represented the idea 
expressed by the word in ; the second suggested the 
conception of building ; and the third the notion of 
condition, or process, "With this key to the significa- 
tion of all its parts, we arrive at that of the whole 
word, — so richly suggestive, so full of thought, and 
so monitory to the mind both of pupil and teacher, 
— that instruction is a process of building in. The 
literal and original application of the word, in its 
primary sense, with all its beautiful, figurative signi- 
ficance, thus standing revealed and open to us, we 
have it in our power to determine its secondary 
sense, — its exact and appropriate meaning, in the 

(75) 



76 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

current usage of our own day, — according to which 
it is applied to designate the didactic, or doctrinal 
part of education. 

But both these words, instruction and education, 
belong to the part of our language which consists of 
w^ords originally Latin. They are no part of the 
primitive vernacular tongue of our childhood, — the 
vocabulary to which w^e must always refer, as a 
standard and a guide, in interpreting or endeavoring 
to understand the meaning of the other words of our 
language, — those which belong to the wiitten usage 
of authors and of books. We have yet another step 
to take, before we could answer the child's question, 
" What does ' instruction ' mean ? " — The answer to 
this question will bring out a word yet more fami- 
liar, one which belongs to the plain language of early 
life and of every-day use, and therefore gives the 
meaning more fully, more definitely, and more clear- 
ly. The word in question is " teaching." Beyond 
this word we feel that we do not need to go, and, 
indeed, cannot go, in endeavoring to simplify and 
explain ; because, in the use of this term, we have 
come home to our original native dialect, in which 
the thing signified is, from early association, imme- 
diately suggested by the word. 

The primitive signification of a word, is, in gene- 
ral, a sure guide to its true import and proper appli- 
cation. But, as in the progress of the history of a 
language, national development is ever modifying 
the sense of old terms, as Avell as introducing new 
ones, the mere original signification of a word, is not 
alv/ays a security for its precise meaning and pro- 
per use, or its actual acceptation at a given period.=^ 



^ Students and teachers who are accustomed to refer to that 
noble monument of erudition and indefatigable labor, Kichard- 
son's New Dictionary of the English Language, will have re- 
marked that the author of the present volume ventures to differ 



SIGNIFICATION AND MEANING OF WORDS. 77 

Hence, to interpret or to employ language appro- 
priately, it is not enough that ^\^e know the idea 
primarily suggested by any word: we must know 
the precise shade of thought to which it is applied, 
in good usage, in our own day, — a stage of attain- 
ment which we can reach by no other means than 
extensive reading, attentive study, and good instruc- 
tion, followed by careful practice in writing and con- 
versation. 



Exercise. — The practical part of the exercise 
on the signification and meaning of words, is 
performed 'by (1.) mentioning, if the word is com- 
pounds the parts of which it consists ; (2.) if it is 
complex^ naming and explaining the prefix and 
suffix^ and the root^ with its derivation; (3.) stating 
the primary sense, or the literal and original sig- 
nification of the whole word; (4.) its secondary 
sense, or its precise meanings in the actual contem- 
poraneous use of language ; (5.) giving an exam- 
ple^ in a phrase^ or a sentence^ of its appropriate 
application^ as follows : 



from that eminent authority, on the distinction made between the 
terms signification and meaning. A practical manual, such as this, 
affords no room for discussions, were it proper to offer here a de- 
fence of the distinction observed, in the above and preceding in- 
stances, in these pages. But to the teacher, at least, it may be 
permitted to say, that his office, as a matter of experience, in the 
explanation of words, often is, to deduce and evolve, through the 
successive stages of philological and psychological associations, 
the meaning, or actual sense of a word from its primary and literal 
sense, — and from its signification^ (67*^?2-power,) or mere etymologi- 
cal reference, to educe its secondary sense, in the form, perhaps, of 
a metaphorical, or even \\\g\Aj figurative, interpretation. The signi- 
fication is the letter; the meaning is the spirit; and, as in higher 
and sacred relations, the one may " kill ", while the other " gives 
life;' 

7^ 



78 EXERCISES ON WORDS, 

"INSTRUCTION". Analysis: Prefix, in-, 
signifying in or into ; Si^ffix, -ion, signifying con- 
dition or process ; Root, ^struct-, derived from the 
Latin language, and signifying building, — Orig- 
inal Signification, process of building in, — Ac- 
tual Meaning, teaching, or didactic information, 
— Examples : " Take fast hold of Instruction ; 
let her not go ; keep her ; for she is thy life." 
" Some things we learn from instruction ; some, 
from experience." " Instruction is but a limited 
part of education." * 



Suggestions to Students. — The adult student who 
wishes to trace satisfactorily the successive changes 
which the sense of many of the words of our lan- 
guage has undergone, in the progress of years, will 
find great benefit from the use of Kichardson's " Dic- 
tionary of the English Language," t in which these 
modifications are distinctly shown, and exemplified 
by quotations from eminent writers, in all the pro- 
minent successive stages of English literature. Re- 
ference, however, to any dictionary of sufficient size 
to contain copious quotations, — as, for example, 
Johnson's, in quarto form, — will be adequate au- 
thority for deciding or sanctioning the actual use of 
words. Worcester's Critical Dictionary, and the 
quarto edition of Webster, may also be mentioned 
as very exact and reliable guides in such investiga- 
tions. 



^ The exercise on the signification and meaning of words, 
when performed by classes, should extend to all the words as- 
signed as the daily lesson in etymological analysis. 

t Republished by Butler & Co., Philadelphia. 



EXERCISE VI. 
DEFINITION OF WORDS. 

Introductory ExpIa7iatio'ns. — The processes de- 
scribed in preceding exercises, have prepared the 
student to trace the primary sense, or original mean- 
ing, of words, and thence to deduce their secondaiy 
sense, or current acceptation and actual use. There 
remains yet another step to be taken, to enable him 
to satisfy his own mind as to what, in any given 
case, is the precise import and full value of a word, 
as used by standard writers, or to aid him in decid- 
ing on what word he ought, in any instance, to em- 
ploy as the exact expression of his own thought. 
This result is obtained by " defining " the particular 
word which is the subject of his inquiries; — or, 
rather, we should say, by defining the idea which he 
wishes to apprehend or to express. 

The signification (or sign-power) of a word, de- 
pends, as we have seen, on its derivation, but its 
present meaning and actual use, on the practice of 
reliable contemporary wiiters. When it becomes 
necessary to explain, or account for, the meaning, we 
have to go behind the forms of language, and define 
the idea itself, which the word represents. The cor- 
rect and clear explanation of the meaning of a word, 
will, therefore, in some cases, depend on the accu- 
racy of this mental process of defining. In such cir- 
cumstances, we appeal to the decision of logic, the 
science which takes cognisance of the process of 
definition, as well as of all other forms of thought 

r79) 



80 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

consisting in the systematic exercise of the reason- 
ing faculty, and determines the apphcations of lan- 
guage to thought, by the decisions of judgment, as, 
in such cases, the ultimate authority. 

We do not, it is true, always need the aid of the 
strictly scientific process of formal definition, to ren- 
der us competent to appreciate duly, or apply pro- 
perly, the words of our own language ; and it is not 
less true that we learn much of our language by 
rote, from merely observing the sense which others, 
in writing and speaking, give to the expressions 
which they use. But to the student of language 
this mere intuition is not a systematic or a satisfac- 
tory knowledge, such as education and discipline 
demand. He wishes often to know, and to know 
with definite certainty, why a given word expresses 
a given idea, and how far it is capable of suggesting 
the precise shade of meaning, which, in any case, is 
to be assigned to it. To satisfy his mind on these 
points, he must not only see into the signification 
of every syllable of the word, but must have an 
exact conception of the idea which is to be attached 
to it, that he may judge of the correctness of his ap- 
prehension of the thought expressed by another, or 
of the fitness of a given word to express the thought 
which he himself wishes to communicate. In these 
circumstances, the process of definition is the only 
sure guide to a decision which carries with it the 
certainty of demonstration. 

Definition, as " a logical description," is, simply, a 
process of classification, which presents the genus, or 
larger class, and the species, or smaller class, to w^hich 
an object or an idea belongs. The word which de- 
notes the larger class, is accordingly called the gene- 
ric or general term, and that which denotes the small- 
er class, the specific or differential term. Expressed 
in the technical language of logic, definition is the 
statement of a subject by its generic term in con- 



DEFINITION OF WORDS. 81 

nection Avith its specific difference. Thus, in the 
proposition, or sentence, " Man is a reasoning ani- 
mal", ''man'\ the subject, is defined by the gene ?'ic 
or general term, ''- animar\ and the specific difference 
" reasoning." The idea of riian is thus presented in 
its general form, or larger classification, by the word 
animal, the more " comprehensive " term, — in con- 
nection with the distinctive conception, or more limit- 
ed classification, expressed by the word reasoning, a 
term extending to closer detail, and hence denomi- 
nated, in logic, the more " extensive " term. 

The process of definition is sometimes employed 
to distinguish an individual from a species, or from 
a comparatively small class. Thus, in the sentence, 
" Cicero was an ambitious man," the differential word 
ambitious, distinguishes Cicero from other men. In 
the sentence, " Cicero was an eloquent orator," the 
discriminative epithet distinguishes him from other 
orators merely. 

We may now return to the word instruction, which 
we have already analysed by derivation, so as to as- 
certain its true meaning and proper use. To define 
instruction, we should term it didactic information; 
— i. e. information given or received by the process 
of teaching. In this definition, the general term is 
information; the specific is didactic, or teaching. The 
plan of written exercises in definition would, conse- 
quently, be exemplified in the following form. 

Exercise. — " Instruction." — Definition : — 
Didactic information ; or Information given or re- 
ceived by the process of teaching, — General 
Term, Information; Specific, Teaching? 

^ The exercise in definition is designed for pupils more ad- 
vanced than those supposed to be occupied with the preceding 
exercises only, and is meant to be limited to those words which 
the pupils of a given class might not otherwise so fully under- 
stand or appreciate. 



82 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

Suggestions to Students. — On the importance of 
exact definition, as indispensable to clear thought 
and correct expression, it seems unnecessary to dwell, 
at great length. Definition, we see, leads to distinc- 
tion ; and distinction leads, in turn, to discrimination. 
Without these aids, our ideas would often have no 
distinctness of outline ; our thoughts would conse- 
quently be obscure, and our expression vague and 
indefinite. 

The value of the practice of defining, as an intel- 
lectual discipline, is second to that of no other, in 
the training of the mind to strict accuracy in its 
modes and habits of action. It is, in fact, as has 
been mentioned, a purely logical process, which lies 
at the foundation of distinct perception, true judg- 
ment, and correct reasoning. As an exercise in lan- 
guage, it is of the utmost importance ; since it is the 
only reliable means of attaining to precision, force, 
accuracy, or propriety of expression. 

Students of the highest standing in any seminary 
in which the study of the English language forms a 
part of the academic course, should make a daily 
practice of training themselves to exactness and 
promptness in defining ; so as to become thoroughly 
prepared for the highest efforts of composition and 
of oratory. As a preparation for premeditated or ex- 
temporaneous speaking, such discipline is invalua- 
ble. It accustoms the mind to decide instantly, and 
with certainty, on the selection and application of 
terms, with reference to clear, correct, and impres- 
sive communication, and a ready command of ap- 
propriate language.^ 



^ Webster's Unabridged Dictionary excels in the fullness and 
exactness of its definitions, and the useful information in which 
it abounds. It will be found an excellent source from which to 
derive the requisite materials for constructing definitions in strict 
logical form. 



EXERCISE VII. 
SYNONYMS. 

Introductory Explanations. — The word synonyms 
is derived from two Greek words, meaning common 
designation, or coincidence of expression. It is ap- 
plied to two or more words having the same, or 
nearly the same, signification. The careful study 
and strict analysis of language, however, teach us 
that no two words can be found, v/liich have pre- 
cisely an identical meaning. The very existence of 
two separate words, called synonymous, proves that 
one was not found sufficient, in all circumstances, to 
supply the place of the other ; — that there was a 
shade of diversity in objects, or in ideas, to express 
which there was needed another word than the one 
which we may suppose to have been first in use. 
Close examination, and a discriminating use of lan- 
guage, will always enable us, in such cases, to detect, 
under the general sameness, the specific difference ; 
— just as, on our first introduction to a family of 
human beings, we may find difficulty in distinguish- 
ing the individuals who compose it, but, on more in- 
timate acquaintance, we learn to trace then* differ- 
ences of form and features, and thus, ere long, easily 
recognise every member. By a similar act of dis- 
crimination, we trace distinctions in the sense of 
words, which, at first view, seem to, have an absolute 
identity of meaning, and are, accordingly, classed as 
" synonyms." 

The numerous resemblances which exist among 

(83) 



84 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

objects, and the consequent similarity of the ideas 
which we form of them, necessarily produce a cor- 
responding approach to sameness m the meaning of 
the words by which we express them. This remark 
applies, with equal, and, sometimes, greater force, to 
the ideas and conceptions which we form within the 
mind itself, independently, for the moment, of exter- 
nal things. From the fact now referred to, there 
arises a great danger of confusion and obscurity, in 
expression. In circumstances nearly identical, yet 
somewhat different, the diversity is apt to escape 
our notice. That diversity, however, may be of the 
greatest moment to a proper estimation of the case. 
The detection of the slightest difference may be 
requisite, in order to draw the line of discrimination, 
in thought and language, between similarity and dis- 
similarity, between truth and error, between virtue 
and vice, between innocence and guilt. 

To recognise distinctions amidst apparent resem- 
blance, in the meaning and use of words, must be an 
indispensable requisite to the right interpretation and 
proper use of language,— the appointed means for 
the communication of thought, and the advancement 
of intelligence. It is not less an invaluable aid, as 
an exercise and discipline of mind, and the chief 
means of training it to exactness and precision of 
thought, — the main condition of success in the dis- 
covery and exposition of truth. 

The ancient definition of rhetoric, which made it 
consist in saying the fit word in the fit place, is pe- 
culiarly suggestive as to the value of a perfect 
knowledge of synonyms. To enable us to express 
an idea with precision and clearness, we must have 
the whole treasury of English words, lying, as it 
were, before us, from which to select the one which 
exactly expresses our meaning, — presenting it fully, 
leaving no imperfection arising from want of defi- 
niteness, of force, or of breadth of expression, in con- 



SYNONYMS. 85 

sequence of which deficiency, the idea would stand, 
hke a mutilated statue, deprived of some important 
feature. Neither must the word which we select, 
suggest more than we wish to communicate. The 
idea which Ave would express, must stand forth by 
itself, unembarrassed by any extraneous and unne- 
cessary matter, which might tend only to distract the 
attention, and obscure our mental view, and conse- 
quently to create confusion, as to the actual mean- 
ing intended. Language is sometimes justly called 
the dress of thought ; and this view of it suggests the 
lesson implied in the figurative definition. The well- 
fitting garment is neither scanty nor redundant, but 
exactly proportioned to the person of the wearer. A 
well-chosen word, in like manner, is neither deficient 
nor superfluous, in the sense which it conveys. It 
resembles what is happily termed, in geometry, a 
''neat" demonstration, in which every part of the 
process comes forth clear, distinct, and exact, — leav- 
ing no deficiency, and presenting no redundancy. — 
The discriminating use of synonym^s, renders expres- 
sion not merely perspicuous, but luminous, to the 
understanding. 

The primary exercise of collecting or enumerating 
synonyms, may be exemplified in the following 
form.^ * 

Exercise. — (1.) The Collecting of Synonyms. 
The first step in an exercise on synonyms, is duly 
to collect all the words which our language fur- 
nishes as synonymous, in any case, with a given 
word. 

Suggestion to Students. — To train the mind to 
promptness and self-reliance, in this part of the ex- 

^ A few words, — nouns, adjectives, or verbs, — which have the 
largest number of synonyms, may be assigned, from the daily 
reading lesson of a class, as subjects for this form of exercise. 



86 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

ercise, the student should make it a strict rule to 
himself always to endeavor to call up, in the first 
place, all such words as his own mind can furnish, 
from intuition and from memory. When he has 
done this act of justice to his own self-culture, he 
may then appeal to the aid of the dictionary, and 
ransack its references, from word to word, till he has 
exhausted the vocabulary of the language, so far as 
concerns the synonyms which he wishes to com- 
mand.^ 

Example. — " Action ", — act, activity, acting, 
agency; motion, momentum, play; power, force, 
energy, vehemence, violence, exertion, effort, effi- 
ciency; practice, operation, process, exercise, per 
formance, doing, deed, feat, achievement, exploit, 
perpetration ; impetus, impulsion, impulse, incitation, 
impetuosity, petulance, incitement, incentive, insti- 
gation, influence, stimulus, excitation, excitement, 
agitation, irritation, stir, bustle, commotion, ferment- 
ation, perturbation, ebulhtion, struggle, battle ; work, 
business, labor, toil, task, drudgery, employment, oc- 
cupation, vocation, pursuit, calling, profession ; ap- 
plication, diligence, industry; procedure, proceeding, 
transaction, job, attempt, experiment, endeavor, dab- 
bling; gesture, gesticulation, antic, trick; play, re- 
creation, ^ame, sport, frolic, diversion, amusement, 
pastime.t 

Note. The synonyms, m the above example, are 
grouped by semicolons, according to their nearest 
connections in sense, and the nicer or broader shades 

=^ Crabb's Synonyms, and other works of similar character, will 
be useful aids in this part of an exercise on words. But no vol- 
ume can be named, which, for this purpose, is equal to Boget's 
Thesaurus of English Words, re-edited by President Sears, and 
by Professor Lincoln, of Brown University. 

t The idea expressed by the primary word, in the above enu- 
meration, creates such a multitude of synonymous terms, by all 
of which it may be represented, that only a selection of the most 
important could be offered. 



SYNONYlvrS. 87 

of meaning by wliich they vary from one another. 
This arrangement is designed to facihtate the exem- 
phfication of subsequent exercises, as well as the 
present and the one immediately following. 



Exercise. — (2.) Application of Synonyms. 
When the student has collected all the synonyms 
to a given word, which occur to his memory, and 
all the additional ones derived from his dictionary, 
he may proceed to exemplify the proper use of 
them individually, by introducing each in a phrase 
or in a sentence, in which the context is of such a 
character that no other member of the same fam- 
ily of synonyms, can be substituted for it, without 
injury to the form of expression, in the whole 
clause in which it occurs.* 

Example. — " Action " : All action implies motion. 
Act : The incendiary was detected in the very act, 
— Activity : Activity is indispensable to success in 
business. Acting : A man may be an accomplice 
in crime without acting, — Agency : He may employ 
the agency of others. — Motion : The motion of the 
arm and hand, is a natural accompaniment of speech. 
— Momentum : The physicist will give you the mo- 
mentum of a planet. — Play : The play of the differ- 
ent parts of the machine is perfect. — Poiver : The 
poiver to act does not always accompany the poiver 
to will. — Force : The entrance was effected by main 
force. — Ener'gy : A mind destitute of energy can ef- 

^ This exercise is properly one of intuitive recognition, merely, 
and may be advantageously practised, to a certain extent, by even 
the younger members of a grammar class. It may be diversified 
by tiie teacher giving out sentences in which the places for the 
synonyms are left blank, to be filled up by the pupil. 



88 EXERCISES ON WORDS, 

feet little, eitlier for itself or for others. — Yeliemence : 
Demosthenes was remarkable for vehemence of utter- 
ance. — Violence : War is systematic violence ^ sanc- 
tioned by national custom. — Exertion : Nothing val- 
uable can be acquired by a mind which shrinks from 
exertion. — Effort: Sloth cannot be shaken off with- 
out an effort. — Efficiency : Activity is of little value, 
unless it result in efficiency. — Practice : The utility 
of theory is demonstrated hj practice. — Operation: 
The experiment proved an expensive operation. — 
Process : The operator went through a tedious pi'o- 
cess. — Exercise : Passion may prevent the exercise 
of reason. — Performance : Shame attends the con- 
scious performance of a mean action. — Doing : He 
plainly saw the folly of his doings. — Eeed : Whether 
praise or blame should be besto^ved on the daring 
deed, seems doubtful. — Feat : The knight exhibited 
his prowess in an unrivalled 7%^^ of arms. — Achieve- 
ment : To conquer passion is a high achievement. — 
Exploit: The fame of his exploit was spread 
throughout Christendom. — Perpetration : The 
thoughtless youth was, ere long, tempted to the per- 
petration of crime. — Impetus : The impetus of a mis- 
sile is diminished by distance. — Impulsion : The bar 
of iron was subjected to the three great tests of ten- 
sion, torsion, and impidsion. — Impidse, impetuosity, 
petulance: The youth was actuated by impidse 
rather than principle, and by impetuosity rather than 
true courage. He often gave way to fits of petu- 
lance. — Incitation: The incitation of ungoverned 
passion leads to many a fatal act. — Incitement : The 
desire of fame is, too often, the sole incitement of the 
warrior. — Incentive : The hope of booty is, some- 
times, the incentive to battle. — Instigation : The 
deed was perpetrated at the instigation of malice. — 
Influence : The influence of a mother's tenderness 
he had never felt. — Stimulus : He was impelled by 
the stimulus of a morbid appetite. — Excitation : The 



SYNONYMS. 89 

excitation of evil passions, stifles the voice of con- 
science. — Excitement : In the excitement of battle, 
humanity is lost. — Agitation : He never betrayed 
the agitation of passion. — Irritation : He was above 
the reach of paltry irritation. — Stir : The intelli- 
gence caused a great stir in the crowd. — Bustle : 
The household was in all the hustle of preparation 
for a hasty departure. — Commotion : The elements 
were in violent commotion, — Fermentation : The con- 
tradictory tidings kept the minds of the people in cease- 
less ,/6^^^?^e^to^^6>?^. — Ferturhation: The dreaded ap- 
proach of the enemy threw the inhabitants of the town 
into the gxenXestpertiti'bation. — Ebullition: The ebulli- 
tions of popular fury were absolutely frightful. — 
Struggle : His was a life of struggle. — Battle : Lu- 
ther's words were so remarkable for their force, that 
they have been called half battles. — Work: Work 
is a primary want of man's nature. — Busi?iess : Busi- 
ness is but a more imposing form of work. — Labor : 
Man was designed to lead a life of labor, ( — Toil: ) 
but not of exhausting toil. — Task : The labor of the 
day is a sufiicient task,( — Frudgery:) without the 
addition of domestic drudgery. — Ernploymejit : It is 
a privilege of the rich to give employment and remu- 
neration to the poor. — Occupation : Feeble and 
helpless must be that mind which is not competent 
to provide itself with occupation. — Vocation : The 
vocation of teaching ought to be placed on the foot- 
ing of a recognised profession. —Fur suit : Of all the 
pursuits in Avhich man engages, that of pleasure is, 
sometimes, the most laborious. — Calling : He con- 
scientiously fulfilled the duties of his humble calling. 
— Frofession : He aspired to the position of a lib- 
eral profession. — Application : Too close application 
exhausts both body and mind. — Diligence : Dili- 
gence alone can secure valuable acquirements. — In- 
dustry : Industry is an indispensable condition of 
success in life. — Frocedure : The procedure of the 
8# 



90 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

executive authority was, in that case, one of ques- 
tionable poHcy. — Proceeding : The proceedings of 
the pubhc meeting were duly reported. — Transac- 
tion : The transaction reflected no great credit on 
those who took part in it. — Job: The whole affair 
turned out a mean and disgraceful joh. — Attempt : 
The attempt was baffled. — Experiment : The expe- 
riment w^as satisfactory. — Endeavor: A life spent 
without endeavor, is ignoble. — Eahhling : He lost 
his property by dabbling in stocks. — Gesture : The 
action which accompanies human speech, is proper- 
ly termed gesture. — Gesticulation : The chattering 
of monkeys is sometimes accompanied by gesticula- 
tion : ^ — Antic : The recitation of the verses was 
accompanied by odd postures and antics. — Trick : 
The tricks of trade are sometimes exposed. — Flay : 
All work and no play, is proverbially an injudicious 
regimen. — Recreation : Recreation may justly be 
termed a necessity of man's constitution. — Game : 
The mind is exercised, as well as entertained, by the 
vicissitudes of a game of chess. — Sport : The thing 
was done in sport. — Frolic : Fun and frolic need 
guarding against excess. ' — Diversion : Seasonable 
diversion relieves the depressing effect of assiduous 
grave application. — Amusement : Quiet amusements 
relish longest. — Fastime : The masques and other 
pastimes of the Elizabethan age, served, at once, to 
unbend and to inspire the mind. 



^ It is a prevalent error, with American writers, to confound 
the meaning of the abov^e terms, and use them as strictly synony- 
mous. For the distinctive and appropriate use of these words, 
see Richardson's Dictionary. — ^' Or what their servile apes gesti- 
culated Ben Jonson. — " The gesture of man is the speech of his 
body." Wilson^ — quoting Cicero. 



SYNONYMS. ' 91 



Exercise. — (3.) Definition of Synonyms, 

Explanatory Observations. — To students who are 
sufficiently advanced, the folio whig form of exefcise 
will be found of great benefit, as regards a distinct 
apprehension of the precise ideas expressed by sy- 
nonymous terms, and an intelligent appreciation and 
discriminating use of language. The practice of 
this exercise is designed to form a guard against any 
remissness of attention or misapprehension of ex- 
pression, which might lead to the error of conceiving 
one word to be synonymous with another, while its 
acceptation was actually different. The consequen- 
ces of such a mistake must necessarily be a misun- 
derstanding and misinterpretation of the language 
of others, or error and confusion arising from our 
own. The exercise now in view, is a logical pro- 
cess of verification, by which words occurring to the 
mind as synonymous, may be brought to a strict 
test, before being accepted as such. A security is 
thus afforded against the numerous errors caused by 
obscurity and ambiguity of expression, which neces- 
sarily tend to mislead the mind, and defeat the pur- 
pose of language. 

The defining of synonyms requires the same pro- 
cess as in the case of other words, — the presenta- 
tion of a generic, or general term, and of one con- 
taining the specific difference. But the proof of the 
exactness of the definition, as regards synonymous 
words, turns on this point, — that, though all the 
words of any given family of synonyms, have their 
discriminating shades of difference of meaning, from 
the general term, and from one another, the state- 
ment of the definition, in every instance, brings the 
word into a relation corresponding to that of species 
to genus, when we compare it with the generic 
term, or parent word. The process, then, of defin- 



92 EXERCISES aN WOKDS. 

ing synonyms, reduces itself to the following brief 
formula. 

Form of Exercise. — Having collected a 
gronp of synonyms to be defined, select from 
them the word which is the most general and 
comprehensive in its sense, and, employ it as a 
generic term, by the use of which, all the others 
may be defined, by a statement of their specific 
difference of acceptation. 

Remark. — If the right word has been selected 
for the generic term, and all the other words of the 
group are really synonymous, all of them, when 
brought to the test of the logical formula, will be 
found to agree with the primary in their general cha- 
racter, but to differ from it, specifically^ and from one 
another, individually, 

EXAMPLE. — "Action." Act, a single action; 
ACTIVITY, tendency to action; acting, fact of action; 
AGENCY, medium of action : ^ Motion, action in 
space; momentum, yorce and velocity of action ; f play, 
Tuotive, action: Power, capability of action; force, 
intensive action ; energy, inward power of action ; 
VEHEMENCE, empassioncd forcc of action; violence, 
excessive force of action; exertion, inchoative action; 
EFFORT, energetic tendency to action; efficiency, ef- 
fective action : Practice, exterior action ; operation, 
complex action; process, continuous action; exer- 
cise, voluntary action ; performance, _^a^<2^/^ action; 
Doing, ordinary form of voluntary action ; deed, ex- 
traordinary form of voluntary action ; feat, arduous 

^ The capital initial letter indicates the commencement of a 
new group of synonyms. 

t The definitions, in some of the examples, are modified by- 
reference to the allusions implied in the examples adduced in the 
exercise on the application of synonyms. 



SYNONYMS. 93 

action: achievement, consummate action; exploit, 
illustrious action; perpetration, guilty action: Im- 
petus, communicated force of action; impulsion, /jro- 
pellmg action; impulse, action o^ feeling ; impetuos- 
ity, unrestrained action o^ feeling ; petulance, im- 
imtient action of feeling: Incitation, impelling ac- 
tion oi feeling; incitement, moral motive action; y^- 
c^i^TiY^, inflammatory inciting action; instigation, 
stimulating action; influence, tacit action; stimu- 
lus, irritating action ; excitation, arousing action ; 
excitement, jt?ra2;6)c<2i^i2;e action; agitation, extremely 
excited action ; irritation, unduly excited action : 
Stir, excited action; bustle, ostentatious action; com- 
motion, com^ningling excited action; fermentation, 
confused excited action; perturbation, disturbed ac- 
tion; EBULLITION, violcnt commotivc action; effer- 
vescence, excessive commotive action; struggle, ob- 
structed action ; battle, combative action : Work, 
obvious action; bv sinbss, intercommimicative action; 
LABOR, continuous strenuous action ; toil, excessive 
continuous action; task, o^j^^om^ec? action ; drudgery, 
servile action; employment, 5/?ecz;?c action; occupa- 
tion, continuous specific action; vocation, accustom- 
ed specific action ; pursuit, prosecuting or sequent ac- 
tion; CALLING, designated loursuit, or mode of indus- 
trial action; profession, licensed scientific vocation: 
Application, earnest attentive action; diligence, sus- 
tained application; assiduity, ^prolonged application; 
INDUSTRY, habitually continued, laborious action: Pro- 
cedure, course of action; proceeding, formal ac- 
tion; transaction, specific business action; job, oc- 
casional action: Attempt, intended action; experi- 
ment, tentative action ; endeavor, aim of action ; 
DABBLING, insignificant action: Gesture, oratorical 
action; gesticulation, bodily action; antic, m^ock 
action : Trick, illusive action : Play, relaxing ac- 
tion; RECREATION, ren<9?;a^i7Z^ action; game, amusive 
form of action; sport, pleasurable action; frolic, 



94 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

mirthful action ; diversion, sportive vicissitude of ac- 
tion ; AMUSEMENT, entertaining action ; pastime, fes- 
tive action. 



Exercise. — (4.) Discrimination of Synonyms, 

Explanatory Observations. — The practice of the 
foregoing exercise, is designed to facihtate the ready- 
recognition of the relationship, or unity of significa- 
tion, existing among words that are properly syno- 
nymous, — so far as that designation can, with pro- 
priety, be apphed. The exercises which follow are 
intended for the opposite effect of rendering the mind 
critically acute in discriminating the specific and in- 
dividual differences of meaning, discernible among 
the groups and pairs of synonyms wliich may be 
comprehended and defined under one and the same 
general term. The former exercise led us to consi- 
der the abstract idea which, as a primary basis, is 
common to all the members of a family of syno- 
nyms, and proves the justice of their claim to a place 
in the household : the present leads us to dwell on 
their particular characteristics, and traits of differ- 
ence, in groups, and individually, that we may not 
confound them by too hasty or careless observation, 
but recognise distinctly the place and the claims of 
each. We formerly wished to bring them, as nearly 
as practicable to agreement and to unity : we now 
wish, by narrow inspection, to detect those pecu- 
liarties which may make them differ as widely as 
possible. Our course is analogous to that of the na- 
turalist who wishes to draw a sharply defined line 
of distinction, between the species of a given genus 
and the varieties of a given species. He dwells on 
the minutest points of difference, and, when neces- 



SYNONYMS. 95 

sary, calls in the aid of the microscope itself, to en- 
able him to determine, with perfect precision, the 
exact form of every distinctive feature. 

A similar process of nice discrimination, is requi- 
site, in order to discern the difference in the mean- 
ing of words so nearly similar in signification as to 
render it difficult, at first sight, to recognise the pro- 
per distinction to be made in interpreting or apply- 
ing them. To miss, in such cases, even the most 
delicate shading or gradation of meaning, is to lose,' 
perhaps, the significance or the beauty of expres- 
sion, or a vital distinction in thought. An exact dis- 
crimination of synonyms, is the true test of scholar- 
ship and skill in our own language, and requires the 
same assiduous application and thorough training by 
which critical acumen is attained in the study of the 
ancient classics. 

In attempting to discriminate synonyms, two pre- 
liminary processes are of great moment, — derivation 
and definition. By tracing the derivation of both 
words, in cases of near approximation to identity of 
signification in any two, we take one step, and, per- 
haps, a successful one, towards the detection of an 
original difierence in their signification, arising from 
diversity in the objects or ideas to which they were 
first applied. Following this suggestive hint, the 
mind seizes a distinction in thought, and recognises 
the corresponding discrimination in language, — 
whether in tracing the sense of a word employed by 
another, or in choosing expression for its own con- 
ceptions. — We may select the synonyms diversion 
and recreation, as an illustration of the use of ety- 
mological analysis, in aiding us to determine the 
precise signification of words liable to be used as 
synonymous. By tracing the derivation of the form- 
er, Ave find the primitive signification to be twming 
aside. The term diversion, therefore, suggests mere- 
ly the idea of turning aude, for relief from applica- 



96 EXERCISES ON WORDS, 

tion. The form of action which we substitute as a 
rehef from wearisome or fatiguing exertion, is not 
specified by the word diversion : it may be a sahi- 
tary, or it may be an injurious change of action : its 
effects are not intimated. The term recreation, on 
the other hand, not only suggests the idea of a change 
of action, but a sahitary, a re-creating, or renovating 
change. 

The proper discrimination, then, in the interpreta- 
tion or the use of these two terms, imphes the re- 
cognition of a distinction founded on the differ eyice 
of degree, — that (diless ^iid greater,- — in their signi- 
fication ; the latter term transcending the former in 
the extent of meaning suggested. 

Another aid to discrimination in the use of syno- 
nyms, consists in tracing the effect of definition on 
terms closely alhed in signification. Defining, ^vhen 
correctly performed, as a process of thought logical- 
ly embodied in language, necessarily gives, along 
with the generic term, in any case, the specific or 
the individual difference of character in its theme or 
subject. It involves, therefore, the mental distinc- 
tion which that difference implies, and thus furnish- 
es the means of making the proper discrimination in 
the expression of that distinction. 

The definition of synonyms, as such, therefore, 
consists in nothing more than presenting words of 
similar signification, defined in pahs, for the purpose 
of being discriminated, by their specific or individual 
differences of meaning, in the manner exemplified 
in the following formula. 

Form of Exercise. — From the whole num- 
ber of words collected as synonyms to a given 
word, select the two which come nearest to iden- 
tity of signification, — (1.) Define each by what- 
ever word in the group has the most general and 
comprehensive meaning. — (2.) Compare the two 



SYNONYMS. 97 

terms which express the specific difference^ as given 
in the words of the definition ; and state the dis- 
Unction in thought^ founded on the difference of 
things^ by which the sense of each synonym is 
to be discriminated. — (3.) Exemplify the discri- 
mination^ in one or more sentences, as may be 
best adapted to a clear exposition of its accuracy, 
in consequence of the justness of the distinction 
on which it rests, and the actual dift'erence of 
things which calls for the distinction.* 

EXAMPLES. 

Act, Deed, 

Definition : Act, a single action ; Deed, a volun- 
tary action. Distinction, founded on the differ- 
ence of general and particidar. Discrimination: 
" The action which Avas extolled as a good deed, was 
but an act of necessity." 

Force, Energy. 

Definition: Force, active power ; t Energy, in- 
herent power. Distinction, founded on the. differ- 
ence between external and internal. Discrimina- 
tion : " The power of the monarch was felt in the 



=* The above prescribed form of exercise, combining rhetorical 
and logical with grammatical discipline, is designed, as has been 
mentioned, for advanced students, and is presented here with a 
view to complete the plan of a series of exercises on words. It 
may be omitted, at the discretion of the teacher, in the instruc- 
tion of particular classes. 

t The distinction will sometimes be rendered more precise by 
selecting, for the moment, as a generic term, the leading word in 
a group of synonyms, though it may not be so generally compre- 
hensive as the primary word of the whole theme. In the descend- 
ing scale of distinctions, a word of more comprehensive significa- 
tion than another, becomes virtually, to it, a generic term, in 
definition. 

9 



98 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

energy of his character, rather than in the force of 
his will." 

Exertion, Effort, 
Definition : Exertion, exercise of energy ; Effort, 
exercise o^ force. Distinction, founded on the dif- 
ference between internal and external activity. Dis- 
crimination : The laborer was successful in his 
exertions to support his family. The fireman suc- 
ceeded, by an almost superhuman effort, in saving 
the life of one of the children." 

Feat, Exploit, 
Definition : Feat, arduous action ; Exploit, illus- 
trious action. Distinction, founded on the differ- 
ence hetween personal and 5oczaZ relations. Discri- 
mination : '' He was a youth who delighted not less 
in feats of personal strength, than in daring exploits 
on the battle-field." 

Incitement, Incentive, 
Definition : Incitement, normal moral motive ; 
Incentive, abnormal moral motive. Distinction, 
founded on the difference between regular and ir- 
regular action. Discrimination : " Eloquence some- 
times proves an incentive to passion, rather than in- 
citement to duty." 

Incitation, Instigation, 
Definition : Incitation, impelling motive; Instiga- 
tion, violently impelling motive. Distinction, found- 
ed on the difference of degree as less or more. Dis- 
crimination : " Ambition proves, in some men, a 
healthful incitation of the noblest energies of the 
soul ; in others, a maddening instigation of its worst 
passions." 

Agitation, Commotion, 
Definition : Agitation, extremely excited action ; 



SYNONYMS. 99 

Cominotion, excited commingling action. Distinc- 
tion, founded on the difference between simple and 
complex materials. Discrimination : " The agita- 
Hon and violence of the speaker, excited a sympa- 
thetic commotion in his audience." 

Work, Labor, 

Definition: Work, active exertion; Labor, conti- 
nuous exertion. Distinction, founded on the dif- 
ference between occasional and habitual action. Dis- 
crimination : " Work, in moderation, is a pleasing 
form of exercise ; labor, to the weak, becomes iveari- 
so7ne toiir 

Employment, Occupation. 

Definition ; Emj^floyment, specific action ; Occupa- 
tion, continuous specific action. Distinction, found- 
ed on the difference between occasional and habitual 
exertion. Discrimination : " The man found em- 
ployment at occasional jobs, but still wished for a 
more regular mode of occupation',' 

Vocation, Calling, 
Definition : Vocation, accustomed occupation ; 
Calling, designated industrial occupation. Distinc- 
tion, founded on the difference of general and par- 
ticular. Discrimination : " Men who attempt to 
live without a vocation, often fall victims to the en- 
nui of indolence or the seductions of vice. Better 
to toil in the humblest calling, than stagnate in inac- 
tivity." 

Fursuit^ Profession, 

Definition: Pursuit, habitual occupation; Fro- 
fession, occupation followed by a body of licensed 
members. Distinction, founded on the difference 
o^ general ^wdiparticidur. Discrimination: "Many 
members of the learned professions find time for the 
cultivation of science, literature, or art, or for en- 
gaging in some other favorite pursuit^ 



100 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

Apijlication^ T)iligence. 

Definition : Application, attentive and earnest 
activity; Diligence, sustained ^ctiyitj. Distinction, 
founded on the difference between zeal and perse- 
verance. Discrimination : " The power of applica- 
tion and the habit of diligence, are the guaranties of 
success in business." 

Diligence, Industry, 
Definition: Diligence, sustained ^oiiYiij] Indus- 
try, habitual laborious activity. Distinction, found- 
ed on the difference between mental and bodily ex- 
ertion. Discrimination : " The diligence of the stu- 
dent, and the industry of the farmer, have, equally, 
their rewards." 

Diligence, Assiduity. 
Definition : Diligence, sustained activity ; Assi- 
duity, prolonged activity. Distinction, founded on 
the difference of degree, as regards continuance. 
Discrimination : " His diligence in all his varied 
pursuits in private life, and his assiduity in the dis- 
charge of every official duty, were equally charac- 
teristic of the man." 

Attempt, Endeavor. 
Definition : Attempt, intended action ; Endeavor, 
continued aim of action. Distinction, founded on 
difference of degree, as to continuance. Discrimi- 
nation : " Desultory attempts w^ill never accomplish 
the task assigned to persevering endeavor.'' 

Play, Sport. 
Definition : Play, cheering recreation ; Sport, 
mirthful recreation. Distinction, founded on dif- 
ference o^ degree, as to hilarity. Discrimination: 
" The joyous and buoyant spirit of childhood, easily 
passes from play to sport and frolic." 



EXERCISE VIII. 
SUPPLYING ELLIPSES. 

Exercise. — A useful supplement to the pre- 
ceding forms of exercises on words, consists in 
the attempt to supply appropriate terms, purpose- 
ly omitted from the context of a given passage, 
so as to require of the student an attentive regard 
to the adaptation of language to thought, in va- 
ried circumstances of expression. 

Note. — This exercise demands, in many instances, 
the preparation furnished in the previous exercises 
on definition and synonyms, and will always involve 
a useful review of these, and afford, at the same 
time, a test by wliich the student's previous progress 
may be ascertained. 



Suggestion to Teachers, — Li selecting matter for 
such exercises as are now proposed, the teacher will, 
of course, be guided by the capacity of his pupils. 
The character of the exercise in view, is such as to 
adapt it to all classes of students, from the most ad- 
vanced to the very youngest engaged in the study of 
grammar. Judicious selection, on the part of the 
teacher, will furnish sufficient exercise for the for- 
mer, in passages requiring close thought and deliber- 
ate reflection, as well as a considerable degree of 
skill, in the process of supplying elhpses ; while the 
9^ (101) 



102 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

work prescribed to the latter, will be of that compar- 
atively easy description, which requires nothing more 
than intuitive observation, and is merely intended as 
a discipline to aid in forming a ready ear for expres- 
sion. — Narrative and descrq^tive writings, are, by 
their very character, which runs so often into unex- 
pected detail, unsuitable for the material of exercises 
in the form to which we now advert. But essays, 
and other didactic compositions, which abound in 
general sentiment, always furnish appropriate scope 
for the exercise of replacing expressions which the 
general tendency of thought evinced in the context, 
will, in part, suggest, when they have been removed, 
for the time, by the teacher, in prescribing a practical 
lesson of this description. 

Suggestion to Students. — The exercise in supply- 
ing ellipses, is necessarily of such a form as to ren- 
der it inapplicable, in strictness of practice, to the 
circumstances of the student who is prosecuting the 
study of language, as a matter of self-culture. An 
exercise nearly equivalent, however, may be substi- 
tuted in such cases, — that of reading a paragraph 
from a standard author, and then endeavoring to ex- 
press his sentiment in the same words, as far as 
memory will serve to reproduce them. On compar- 
ing his own composition with that of the author, the 
student will usually find, iji addition to more or less 
variation from the original thought, a difference in 
the forms of expression, arising from a different se- 
lection of words. The greater force, clearness, or 
appropriateness of the language of the author, will 
afford the intended lesson in choice of expression. 

Examples. — The following paragraphs are selected 
from essays by Clarendon, Addison, Johnson, Savile, 
and Colton. 



SUPPLYING ELLIPSES. 103 



Exercise in supplying the omission of {!.) Norms. 

" He that hath been brought up from his 

in the of God, and hved suitably to that 

, learns more from affliction, than he had 

done, all his before. That presented all 

his defects to him, in a true mirror : he discerned his 

and his in their own , 

which appeared before to him only m the light of 

and 

" We should probably find much better in 

our pursuits, if, before we are too solicitous, and set 
out upon any , we would well 

weigh and consider the true of the which we 
desire, — whether it be indeed worth all that 
we shall be put to, and all the we are likely 

to spend in obtaining it." 

*' Happiness is deceitful as the calm that precedes 
the , smooth as the on the 

of the cataract, and beautiful as the rainbow, that 
smiling daughter of the ; but, like the 

in the desert, she tantalizes us with a that 

creates, and that destroys." " To am- 

bition she sends ; to avarice, ; to 

love, ; to revenge, : alas ! what are these, 

but so many other names for and ? " 

(2.) Adjectives. 

" To advise the , relieve the , 

comfort the , are duties that fall in our way, 

every day of our lives." 

" If unlearned and ordinary men raise themselves, 
with very assistance from nature, to a 

and height of reputation and honor, by their 

, untaught wisdom, and judgment, 

what flights would such men make, with 



104 EXERCISES ON WOUDS. 

industry, if liberally endowed with the advantages 
of nature ! " 

" Are we pleased with the commerce and 

society of and cities, or with the 

pleasures of the country ? Do we love palaces 

and houses, or take delight in groves and 

woods or gardens which teach nature to pro- 

duce more fruits and flowers and plants than her 
own store can supply her with? — All this we owe 
to peace." 

" I know that reflections on death are apt to raise 
and thoughts in minds and 

imaginations ; but, for my own part, though 
I am always , I do not know what it is to 

be , and can therefore take a view of nature 

in her and scenes, with the same pleas- 

ure as in her most and ones." 

(3.) Verbs. 

" When ambition one way, interest an- 

other, inclination a third, and, perhaps, reason con- 
trary to all, a man is likely to his time but 
ill, who has so many different parties to ." 

" When I upon the tombs of the great, 

every emotion of envy in me ; when I 

the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate de- 
sire ; when I with the grief of parents 
upon a tombstone, my heart with compassion ; 
when I the tomb of the parents themselves, I 
the vanity of grieving for those whom we 
must quickly ." 

'' It has been in all ages, that the advan- 

tages of nature or of fortune have very 

little to the promotion of happiness ; and that those 
whom the splendor of their rank, or the extent of 
their capacity have upon the summits 

of human life, have not often any just occa- 



SUPPLYING ELLIPSES. 105 

sion to envy in those who up to them from 

a lower station." 

" The ill-natured man himself a large field 

to in ; he those failings in human 

nature which the good-natured man would 
a veil over ; at vices which the other 

or , utterance to reflections which 

the other , indifferently over friends 

or enemies, the person who has 

him, and, in short, at nothing which may 

his character as a wit." 

" We already , in some measure, the charms 

of novelty, and the delight ^vhich 

from the contemplation of objects new, grand, and 
beautiful. Let us , then, if we can, the pleas- 

ing sensations we shall , the high trans- 

ports we shall , when other and unseen 

worlds shall be to our view, and all the glo- 

ries of the celestial paradise on our wonder- 

ing eyes. — Such a felicity, even in prospect, 
the mind, and it with emotions which, wliile 

it , it cannot ." 

Elliptical Exercise on Synonyms. 

It forms a useful variety of exercise to combine, 
with the practice of supplying ellipses, the exempli- 
fication of s^monyms, by adopting a theme which re- 
quires a discriminating application of synonymous 
terms, in a progressive series, regarding intensity of 
expression, — as in the folioAving example. 

" The artist's juvenile attempts reflected [1] on 
his talents. Had he been ambitious merely of a [2] 
, he would have courted the society of persons 
of [3j . His productions might thus have been 
in [4] for a Avhile, and he might have been grati- 
fied with a transient [5] . But his aspirations were 
those of a true lover of art : he chose the path of 



106 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

quiet diligence and assiduous application. His [6] 
advanced with his years. In early manhood, he 
had already attained to an enviable [7] . He 
was held in universal [8] for his noble personal 
qualities, not less than for his artistic talent. Previ- 
ous to his removal to the metropolis, he was in high 
[9] for the excellence of his portraits, some of 
which, from the [10] of those whom they represent- 
ed, served to add to the artist's [11] . His [12] 
soon extended abroad ; and, ere his death, he had 
acquired a world-wide [13] . His name is in- 
vested with the [14] of triumphant genius ; and the 
lovers of art, in all countries, do [15] to his mem- 
ory." 

[1] credit, [2] name, [3] note, [4] vogue, [5] noto- 
riety, [6] reputation, [7] distinction, [8] honor, [9] re- 
pute, [10] pfopularity, [11] celebrity, [12] fame, [13] 
renoivn, [14] glory, [15] homage. 



EXERCISE IX. 
VARIATION OF EXPRESSION. 

Introductory Explanations, — The English lan- 
guage is derived from so many different sources, 
that it greatly excels in copiousness. Its wealth of 
words, however, is often the very cause of that 
embarrassment which the young composer feels in 
attempting to give appropriate expression to his 
thoughts. Our synonymous terms are so numerous, 
and approach each other so nearly in sense, that no 
slight degree of attainment in critical judgment and 
skill, is needed, in many instances, to enable us to 
decide with certainty on the choice of expression. 
A discriminating and exact adaptation of language 
to thought, while it is thus comparatively difficult, is 
one of the most desirable accomplishments which 
the discipline of assiduous cultivation can yield. A 
long-continued training in the discrimination of sy- 
nonyms, is, in this relation, the student's best gene- 
ral reliance for adequate attainments. 

There is one branch, however, of the study of 
words, wliich is founded on distinctions so obvious 
as to give it a peculiarly interesting character in 
connection with etymology, and, at the same time, 
to render it more easy of attainment than others. 
It is one, also, which, while it affi^rds scope for the 
exercise of the acutest discrimination and most ma- 
ture judgment, is accessible, to a great extent, to 
the youngest student of language. It regards the 
difference existing between the two great primary 

(107) 



108 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

sources of our language, — that which may be term- 
ed the Franco-Latin, or Latin modified by transmis- 
sion through the French; and tlie Anglo-Saxon, or 
Saxon modified by the dialect of the Angles. These 
various elements, combined "with others of subordi- 
nate character, prominent among which is the Da- 
nish language, constitute the chief features in the 
present form of the English language. Composed 
of so many different elements, the English is, ne- 
cessarily, a language very irregular, in its grammati- 
cal forms, and very difficult in construction, but not 
less remarkably copious, and peculiarly expressive. 
It derives breadth and solidity from the character of 
its Latin source, freedom and vivacity from the 
French, and primitive force and poetic freshness 
from its Anglo-Saxon and other Gothic sources. By 
these last-mentioned traits of its origin, it adds to 
the massive character of the Latin language some- 
thing of the spirit and versatility of the Greek ; and 
while, by blending all these diversified elements, it 
necessarily loses somewhat of the original excel- 
lences of each, it perhaps transcends them all in 
adaptation to the treatment of most subjects in the 
vast range of human thought. 

Success in English composition, depends, to a 
great extent, on a distinct perception of the effect of 
different subjects on the character of expression, as 
regards the sources whence it is derived. Abstract 
and general forms of thought, expressed in English, 
must be clothed in words in which Latin etymology 
prevails ; as that language, by its constitution and 
character, furnishes the largest amount and greatest 
variety of general terms, and is thus best adapted to 
the expression of abstract ideas. Subjects, on the 
other hand, of a practical and familiar character, if 
appropriately treated, are presented in the vernacu- 
lar Anglo-Saxon forms of our language, which abound 
in idioms, demanding the use of particular and con- 



VARIATION OF EXPRESSION. 109 

Crete terms, and refer directly to things and actions, 
and their quahties as connected with them. Mixed 
subjects, which introduce both general and particu- 
lar, abstract and concrete ideas, are properly dis- 
cussed in terms which are drawn from both of the 
original sources of the language, in proportions de- 
pending on the comparative equality or preponder- 
ance of either form of thought. 

We find, accordingly, that good usage, in English 
writing, associates words of Latin etymology "with 
the style of composition adopted in the language of 
philosophic theories, theoretical expositions, doctrinal 
discussions, rhetorical essays, scientific discourses, 
and other abstract and generalized modes of thought; 
but the homely Saxon vocabulary with ordinary af- 
fairs, domestic life, daily occurrences, familiar let- 
ters, and common conversation. The primitive cha- 
racter of the Saxon renders it, also, the fitting style 
of narrative and descriptive, though not of didactic 
poetry. Oratory and poetry, in their grandest forms, 
range through both of these fields, as well as all 
others ^vithin the domain of language. This trait, 
accordingly, is a striking characteristic in the style 
of Burke and Chatham, and in that of Milton and 
Shakspeare. 

A degree of this liigh attainment, however, is in- 
dispensable to every person who wishes to possess 
the humble merit of using his o^vn language aright, 
even in conversation and in letter-wiiting. But to 
the student who would become " a scholar, and a 
ripe and good one ", in the noble language which, as 
a professional man, he is to have in daily use, for 
the best and noblest purposes of communication, a 
perfect command over all its resources, is a ivorthy 
object of the highest ambition and the most assi- 
duous application. 

10 



110 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

Exercise. — (1.) One useful form of exercise 
on the expressive power of words, as dependent 
on the source whence they are derived, consists 
in translating a given passage, in which terms of 
Latin origin prevail, into words purely Saxon. — 
(2.) Another exercise serves the opposite pur- 
pose, of translating an idiomatic and vernacular 
passage from Anglo-Saxon into Latinized phra- 
seology. — (3.) A third course of exercises, con- 
sists in composing sentences with purely vernacu- 
lar words predominating. — (4.) A fourth, in the 
opposite process of composing in Latinized dic- 
tion ; and (5.) a fifth, in composing sentences 
and paragraphs in which the phraseology inter- 
mingles both these forms of our language.* 

Suggestion to Teachers. — A useful exercise for 
young pupils, in this department of practical gram- 
mar, may be found by prescribing a didactic para- 
graph, — from any reading-lesson not too difficult, in 
its style of expression, for the understanding of a 
given class, — to be turned into ''plainer" language, 
with more or less aid, as may seem necessary, al- 
lowed from the use of the dictionary. This exercise 
not only contributes to skill in language, but greatly 
facilitates the comprehension of ideas, and is an ex- 
cellent preparation for an intelligent and appropriate 
style of reading, as regards the right expression of 
the sense of Avhat is read. Few exercises have more 
power than this, to call forth, the judgment, and de- 
velope the understanding. None serves more ef- 
fectually to keep the mind in the mood of wakeful 



=^ The extracts presented for the Analysis of Composition, in 
subsequent pages of this manual, will furnish convenient mate- 
rial for exercises in Variation of Expression. 



VARIATION OF EXPRESSION. Ill 

attention and lively interest in relation to the sub- 
ject Avliich, for the time, is presented as the ground- 
work of thought. 

Suggestions to Students. — All the great writers to 
whom we are referred as models in the use of w^ords, 
are characterised by one common trait of critical 
; judgment and skill, — the exact adaptation of ex- 
' pression to thought ; their style ever varying with 
the character of the subject of their composition. 
The greatest authors are least marked by the me- 
chanical vice of mannerism. They preserve their 
personal identity in style, but vary, with the utmost 
ease, the complexion of their language with that of 
their subject. 

A language so copious as ours, affords little room 
for any apology for a narrow uniformity of style. 
No language is so well entitled to insist on the great 
canon, that expression should ever wear the living, 
shifting hue of thought. The genius of our tongue 
offers to him who would express himself worthily, 
on any subject, the largest choice of utterance, from 
the heights of poetic inspiration, to the humblest 
strains of ordinary life. 

A due attention to the obligation which ever lies 
on writers of the English language, to em^brace the 
liberal opportunities which it offers them of adapting 
their uses of words to all varieties of occasion, is a 
matter of the utmost moment to the formation of 
style. The taste of our day demands the freest scope 
for expression. It forbids the stately regularity of 
even our best classic essayists of the past, as a mo- 
del. But the license sometimes arising from a mis- 
interpretation of freedom, leads, too frequently, to 
the fatal mistake that wild irregularity is inspired 
originality, or hardened mannerism independent in- 
dividuality, or that low familiarity is pure Saxon. 

The careful study of authors, as models of st^de, 
is of great value, if rightly directed. To catch the 



112 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

spirit, not the manner, of a wiiter, should be the stu- 
dent's aim ; to take every author as a model in that 
in which he excels, as a pervading effect, — not in 
his turns of expression and favorite words. Adopt- 
ing the true, liberal interpretation of the influence 
of example, the young Avriter may avoid every evil 
of imitation, while he acquires simplicity from Addi- 
son, dignity from Johnson, ease from Goldsmith, sub- 
limity from Burke, plainness from Locke or Frank- 
lin, eloquence from Macaulay, strength and grandeur 
from Webster, elegance from Everett, and pliancy 
and grace from Irving. 

Johnson, however, in relation to our present sub- 
ject, — the choice of expression from the t^vo great 
sources of our language, — may be fairly mentioned 
as a writer who carries to extreme the use of Latin 
phraseology, applying it indiscriminately to all sub- 
jects, and thus rendering his style heavy and unin- 
teresting, to a degree which leaves the Kambler, in 
our day, undisturbed on the shelf, or causes him to 
be read with a listless attention, which we ascribe 
to the dulness of the writer. Goldsmith, on the 
other hand, from his fondness for familiar expres- 
sion, falls, sometimes, below the dignity of a gene- 
ral theme ; and, when writing on an elevated or ab- 
stract subject, disappoints alike the mind and the 
ear, by dropping suddenly from a noble height and 
extent of ideal survey, to an illustration compara- 
tively low and narroAV. But Addison, with his fine 
perception and disciplined taste, exemplifies that 
perfect command of expression which enables him 
to mould his language at will ; and, in his beautiful 
essays, at one moment to expatiate in the widest 
scope of elevated and excursive thought, and, at an- 
other, to dwell on the homeliest circumstances of 
daily life, in equally appropriate but totally different 
forms of diction. Johnson has not a little of the mag- 
niloquence of an ambitious public speaker. Gold- 



VARIATION OF EXPRESSION. 113 

smith occasionally falls into a phraseology which sa- 
vors too much of the company with which he often 
condescended to associate. Addison ^vrites as a 
man of general culture, who carries with him, every- 
where, the trained discernment and refined taste of 
a scholar, blended with the ease and dignity of a 
gentleman. 

i Among the wiiters of our o^vn country, Franklin 
forms an instructive example of an easy command 
of both the great elements of English expression, in 
the perfect propriety and excellent adaptation of 
language with which he writes on general subjects 
connected \vith morals and politics, and the peculiar 
facility \\dth which he comes down to the humblest 
affairs of daily experience in domestic and indivi- 
dual life ; — passing from the one to the other of 
these styles, without an effort, and never, for a mo- 
ment, betra^dng a lapse of critical judgment, or a 
fault in taste. His style has not the charm of polish- 
ed elegance which attracts us to Addison ; but its 
perfect simplicity and entire freedom have an in- 
fluence scarcely inferior. 

A distinguished example, nearer to our own day, 
in whom we trace the same discriminating sound- 
ness of judgment, and a yet nobler mastery over all 
forms of our language, -with an apparently uncon- 
scious purity of taste, and a felicitous power of adapt- 
ing expression to every elevated form of thought, we 
find in our great national orator, "Webster. As we 
trace the successive pages of one of his discourses, 
on whatever occasion, we find no false swell of 
style, no parade of lofty diction. The words which 
he employs, are those which we hear daily in intel- 
ligent conversation, or read in the productions of 
chaste and classical writers, — but ahvays the most 
fitting to his subject; and, even in the highest flights 
of his oratory, there is a manly plainness of expres- 
sion from which he never departs. 

io# 



114 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

Were it proper, here, to enter on a critical dis- 
cussion of the merits of our living writers, some might 
be named who are destined to hold the highest place, 
as classic models of cultivated and expressive lan- 
guage, in pure and noble forms. But, to the young 
American student of the English language, it may 
suffice to say, that, happily for his proficiency in the 
art of expression, he is surrounded by the most in- 
structive and inspiring examples, urging him to ac- 
quit himself worthily in the pursuit of that excel- 
lence which is the crown of earnest, assiduous en- 
deavor. 



EXERCISE X. 
ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITION. 

Introductory Explanations. — The systematic study 
of words, as part of a course of practical exercises in 
language, extends properly beyond the sphere of 
grammar to the first stages of rhetoric. The value 
of even a single word, depends not merely on its 
grammatical adaptation to the expression of mean- 
ing but its fitness, also, to the character of the idea 
wliich it represents, as tinged by feeling or colored 
by imagination. These relations of language are 
relinquished by the grammarian to the charge of the 
rhetorician ; and, to complete the study of words, it 
becomes necessary to investigate theirt rhetorical 
character, as elements of expression in the utterance 
of the various moods of the human mind, resulting 
from the influences exerted upon it by the laws of 
association. These subject it to a sympathetic 
action, responsive to the agency of surrounding ob- 
jects, of whose predominating characters it always, 
when true to its office, reflects the local coloring. 
Like the fabled cameleon of old, or the veritable 
familiar lizard of our Southern States, it takes the 
hue of the objects over which it passes; and, when 
it clothes itself in language, the integument, if ap- 
propriate, is so transparent, that the original tint of 
the coloring surface shines through to the eye. 

The suggestive power of words depends, to a 
great extent, on the emotions which they excite in 
conjunction with the thoughts which they awaken ; 

(115) 



116 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

and the vividness of these emotions is always pro- 
portioned to the graphic power of imagination, which 
gives form and color to the mental picture. Lan- 
guage thus often uses a threefold power in enkind- 
ling sentiment, — thought, imagination, and feeling, 
— by the presentation of a single word happily cho- 
sen. 

To appreciate, therefore, the value of words, the 
student must be aware of their po^ver in all the va- 
rious relations which they fulfil. He must form a 
true idea of the place which they occupy in the whole 
field of expression ; and to attain this knowledge, he 
must become competent to analyse language in the 
different forms which it assumes in the various styles 
of composition, arising from diversity of character in 
the subjects of thought. A course of close critical 
reading and systematic analysis, accordingly, is an 
indispensable aid to the exercise of that discernment 
which practice alone has the power of rendering in- 
tuitive, as regards the aptness of words to do their 
great w^ork of prompting the mind, and suggesting 
trains of consecutive thought. 

The following extract from Duncan, may serve as 
an example for the analysis of composition, as an 
exercise on words, when it is practised with a view 
to forming a critical decision on the merits of a piece, 
in regard to the author's choice of expression. 



Spring, 

" This is truly the glad season of the year. Wher- 
ever we turn our eyes. Nature wears a smile of joy, 
as if, freed from the storms and the cold of winter, 
she revelled in the luxury of spring. The lengthen- 
ing day, the increasing warmth of the air, and the 
gradually deepening green of the awakened earth, 
excite, in every breast, a lively sense of gratitude, 



ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITION. 117 

and pleasingly affect the imagination. A walk 
among the woods or the fields, in a calm spring day, 
when the trees are bnrsting forth into beauty, and 
all the land is echoing with song, may well soothe 
the stormiest passions, and insphe that ' vernal de- 
light', wliich is ' able to drive away all sadness but 
despair.' The mind sympatliises with the joy of in- 
animate nature, and rejoices to behold the reviving 
beauty of the earth, as if itself had escaped from a 
period of gloom, to bask in the sunshine of hope and 
enjoyment. 

" The joys of spring, as felt or sung by poets and 
other ardent lovers of nature, are familiar to us. 
They form the burden of many a poetic strain, and 
excite to many a meditative reverie. They have 
inspired enthusiasm and deep delight, ever since 
there was an eye to witness, or a mind to feel, the 
harmony and loveliness of this gorgeously arrayed 
and ' breathing world.' They are the source of ex- 
quisite emotion to every mind in which dwells a 
sense of beauty and creative design. They also 
light the broAV of care, and bring back the flush of 
health and hope to the pale and wasted cheek. And 
not only by the rich and the enlightened, — by the 
children of luxury and refinement, — are the inde- 
scribable delights of this season deeply felt and val- 
ued ; spring is also a time of increased enjoyment to 
the poor. It fills the inmates of many an humble 
dwelling with gladness, and makes even desponding 
poverty smile, and hope for better days. 

'' There is something in the flowery sweetness and 
genial warmth of spring, that kindles, in the rudest 
bosom, feelings of gratitude and pleasure. The con- 
trast to the cold and desolation of wdnter, is so strik- 
ing and agreeable, that every heart, unless it be har- 
dened by the direst ignorance and crime, is melted 
to love and pious emotion ; and breathings of deep- 
felt adoration escape from the most untutored lips. 



118 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

The carols of the ploughman, as he traverses the 
field, the live-long day, and turns up the fresh soil, 
seem to bespeak a lightsome heart, and evince the 
joyousness of labor. The shepherd, as he sits upon 
the hill-side, and surveys his quiet flock, with its 
sportive companies of lambs, — those sweetest em- 
blems of innocent mirth, — feels a joy and calm satis- 
faction, that is heightened by the recollection of the 
vanished snow-storms of recent winter, and of all 
the anxieties and toils of his peculiar charge. Even 
the hard-working mechanic of the village or town, 
shares the general gladness of the season. As he 
strolls in sweet relaxation into the glittering fields, 
or along the blossoming hedgerows and lanes, haply 
supporting with his hand the tottering footsteps of 
his child, or carrying the tender infant in his arms, 
he breathes the freshening air, treads the reviving 
turf beneath his feet, and inhales the first faint per- 
fumes, and listens to the first melodies of the year, 
with an enjoyment that his untaught powers of ex- 
pression cannot describe." 

Exercise. — A complete or exhaustive critical 
analysis of composition, implies a threefold pro- 
cess, referring to the elements of logic ^ rhetoric^ 
and grammar. A practical exercise of this de- 
scription, exemplified in application to the pre- 
ceding extract, would be arranged as follows : 

(1.) Logical Analysis. 

"The Theme", or Subject. — (L) This branch 
of the exercise commences with a statement of 
the theme ^ or groundwork of the whole composi- 
tion, and contemplates, separately, the nature and 
character of the subject^ as a matter of thought, 
— independently, for the moment, of the senti- 



ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITION. 119 

raents to which it gives rise, or the language in 
which these are expressed. — The theme, or sub- 
ject, of the piece before us, may be fully stated 
in the phrase, The pleasures of spring, 

(II.) " Topics." — The next object of atten- 
tion, in this process of analysis, are the topics^ or 
heads, under which the successive thoughts, in 
the developement of the subject, are arranged., 
These are, in the instance under our notice, as^ 
follows : (1.) The general aspect of Nature^ in 
spring. This topic occupies the first two sen- 
tences of the piece, and the first half of the third. 
— (2.) The general effect of the season on the hu- 
man mind. This topic extends through the re- 
mainder of the first paragraph. — (o.) The effect 
on different classes of men^ — (a) the poet,, (b) the 
lover of nature^ (c) the care-worn and the invalid,^ 
(d) the rich,, (e) the poor^ (f) the uncultivated,, (g) 
the ploughman,, (h) the shepherd^ (i) the mechanic. 
These subordinate topics occupy the second and 
third paragraphs. 

(III.) The "Method", or principle of order, 
by which the successive topics are arranged. — 
In the case before us, we perceive the method to 
be that of the developement of the general into 
the particular^ and the order of cause and effect : 
as we have first presented to us a glance at the 
general aspect of spring, — next, an enumeration 
of some particulars ; then, the effects produced by 
spring, as a cause of feeling in man. 

(I v.) The "Scope", or design of the whole 
composition, — which, in the present instance, 
we find to be, The genial effect of spring on man. 



120 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

(2.) Rhetorical Analysis. 

(I.) "Ideas." — Thus far, the matter, or mate- 
rial, of the composition, has been under consider- 
ation; and, having traced, logically, the nature 
and relations of the subject, we are prepared to 
examine, rhetorically, the character of the ideas 
or thoughts, to which the subject has given rise 
by its developement in the mind of the author, 
and to form a critical judgment of their appro- 
priateness to his theme, and their adaptation to 
the purpose of effective expression. We dwell 
on them now, therefore, not with reference to 
their purely intellectual character or value, as 
portions, of a sequence or train of thought, but 
as adapted, niore or less successfully, by their 
complexion and coloring, to the writer's view of 
his subject, and accommodated to correspondent 
effect in language. — The ideas embodied in the 
passage under review, when thus examined in 
detail, as to their rhetorical value, we observe to 
possess a truthfidness^ a vivacity^ and a beauty^ 
which are happily consonant with the subject, 
and which naturally lead to corresponding forms 
of expression. 

(II.) " Eloquence." — The next point for con- 
sideration, in rhetorical analysis, is the degree of 
success which the writer has attained in giving 
effect to his ideas, by the impression which his 
combinations of thought and language^ in conse- 
quence of the happy adaptation of the one to the 
other, produce upon our minds. We inquire, 
now, not into the thoughts merely, nor, as yet, 
into the style of language, but rather into the 
moulding of the former by the latter, as more or 



ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITION. 121 

less skilfully accomplished, and constituting what, 
in the technical nomenclature of rhetoric, is term- 
ed eloquence^ — a result corresponding to those 
which, in graphic art, are designated by the terms 
" effect " and " expression." In written composi- 
tion, however, an impressive eloquence resolves 
itself into the life which is infused into language, 
when it combines, in its suggestive action, the 
play of imagination and of feeling with the in- 
fluence of thought, and when sentiment conse- 
quently comes forth embodied in clear and well- 
defined forms, clothed with associations of grace, 
or humor, or passion, at the will of the writer. — 
Viewed in this relation, we should regard the 
author of the passage under analysis as having 
attained to the degrees of "eloquence", or ex- 
pressive effect, which may be designated by the 
terms graceful and pathetic. These traits, also, 
as well as those indicated under the head of 
*' Ideas ", are in true harmony with the subject 
of the piece, and naturally flow from it, in the 
sympathy of the mind with the object of its con- 
templation. The correspondence of every cha- 
racteristic point, in the whole treatment of the 
theme, with the vein of sentiment involved in 
the subject itself, is, in rhetoric, the demonstra- 
tion of the writer's success. 

(III.) "Style." — Our next object of atten- 
tion, in rhetorical analysis, is the character of ex- 
pression, as involving a degree of regard to orna- 
ment We now contemplate language, as de- 
tached, for a moment, from the relation which it 
bears to a union with thought, and endeavor, by 
critical estimation, to decide its value in the scale 
of beauty, by its effect on taste and imagination. 
11 



122 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

We regard it as an artistic product, — as a quali- 
ty not so much inherent in the writer's subject 
or modes of thought, as infused into his diction, 
by his own design, and his skill in moulding his 
forms of expression. Contemplated in this light, 
the author before us seems well entitled to the 
praise of successful eftbrt, as regards refinement 
and elegance; while yet he is nowhere charge- 
able with any attempt to adorn his language with 
a merely artificial grace. In these respects, also, 
he obeys the requisitions of sound critical judg- 
ment and good taste, which keep his style in har- 
mony with his subject. An ungraceful or a fini- 
cal expression, in a description of nature, would 
equally have been a gross incongruity. 

(3.) Grammatical Analysis. 

(I.) " Structure." — Under this head we re- 
turn to the humbler department of grammatical 
characteristics, and trace the effect produced on 
expression by syntactical structure and arrange- 
ment^ as rendering style simple or artificial, ac- 
cording to the degree in which the order of the 
constructive clauses of a sentence is direct or in- 
verted. In this particular, the writer of the pas- 
sage which we are analysing, maintains the con- 
sistency of his character. We find, in the struc- 
ture of his sentences, no ambitious or studied 
inversion of clauses, but a direct and natural or- 
der of language, such as best harmonises with 
simple descriptive effect ; while an easy melo- 
dious flow of expression is uniformly preserved. 
Unity and harmony are, accordingly, the prevail- 
ing characteristics of the sentential structure of 



ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITION. 123 

the composition. Even in this minuter detail of 
diction, the author still evinces obedience to the 
great law of criticism, that the character of ex- 
pression should always be in perfect keeping with 
that of thought. 

(11.) "Phraseology." — The turns of expres- 
sion in the phraseology of a piece, as idiomatic or 
tmidiomatic, as familiar or elevated^ are the next 
object of attention, in the analysis of composition. 
The first of these traits gives raciness and relish 
to language ; but, when too exclusively adopted, 
it becomes harsh. The second trait referred to, 
as it generalises expression, gives expansion to 
style ; but, when uniformly prevalent, becomes 
vague and weak in effect ; it tlirows a latinized 
air over expression, which is incompatible with 
the freshness of genuine beauty. The author 
under review avoids the errors of both these ex- 
tremes, and skilfully accommodates his phraseo- 
logy to the character of his thoughts, as inclining 
naturally to ^generalised expression^ in the broader 
views of his subject, and to idiomatic diction, 
when descending to detail. His most familiar 
expressions do not lose becoming dignity ; nor 
does his elevation of language lose the charm of 
natural freedom. In this Irait, also, of his style, 
Ave trace its character as in strict keeping with 
his subject, which would equally have forbidden 
any low or any high-flown phraseology, in de- 
scribing a scene of quiet natural beauty. 

(III.) " Choice of Words." — We return, now, 
to the immediate subject of the course of exer- 
cises prescribed in this manual, — the critical 
study of loords^ as a practical application of the 
part of grammar which is comprehended under 



124 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

the designation of etymology, and of the elemen- 
tary part of rhetoric which treats of the character 
of expression, as dependent on the fitness of the 
words which we employ for the communication 
of thought. Under this head, the rhetorical re- 
quisition is, that our words should possess the 
three cardinal properties of " purity ", " propriety ", 
and " precision." We are accordingly directed 
to discard from our style all words which are not 
purely English, by origin or adoption, all which 
are not suitable to the proper style of the theme 
on which we are writing, and all which over- 
shoot, or fall short of, or glance aside from, the 
precise meaning at which we aim. This rule of 
expression forbids the use of that patchwork of 
style which is produced by intermingling scraps 
of Latin, or the words and phrases of foreign lan- 
guages, with those of our own. It prohibits, also, 
the eccentric practice of reviving obsolete terms, 
or adopting new and unusual ones. It excludes 
words merely technical, and all which belong to 
the dialect of slang, whether in low or high life, 
together with all which savor, in any respect, of 
low and vulgar associations ; while it discards, no 
less peremptorily, all mincing affectation and 
squeamish purism, all high-flown phraseology, all 
inflated exaggeration and extravagance, and all 
forced intensity of expression. 

Judged by the standard of all these require- 
ments, the choice of words evinced in the pas- 
sage which we have selected for the purpose of 
exemplifying the analysis of composition, bears 
the closest application of the test, with uniform 
consistency. A single ill-chosen word, a tech- 
nical, or a low expression, an extravagant or a 



ANALYSIS OF COMrOSITION. 125 

fictitious one, intruding on the gentle and serene 
character of the fitting language of the piece, 
would have been an unpardonable blemish in 
the treatment of a subject associated with serene 
and even sacred emotions. The character of his 
theme has, in this respect, we see, as in others, 
been the author's monitor and guide ; and we are 
thus once more referred to subject and thought, 
as the true springs of language, and our only re- 
liable prompters in the choice of words. 

Explanatory Ohservations. — The fitness of any 
word to represent an idea, in consecutive composi- 
tion, depends wholly on its character as a constitu- 
ent part of an entire structure ; the symmetry of 
which is to be maintained tlu'ougliout. Our subject 
is the ground on which we rest the foundation of 
thought, and prescribes the character and style of 
the edifice which we are to erect ; and the details 
and specifications must, in turn, be accommodated 
to the order of architecture which we have adopted. 
To apply this remark to the piece which we have 
been analysing, we may observe, on review, that 
the principle of unity in subject, thought, and lan- 
guage, is successfully preserved in every particular, 
and constitutes the characteristic excellence of the 
whole composition. Thus, the theme presents to 
the mind, as a groundvi^ork, the pleasures of spring ; 
this subject suggests a connected train of serene and 
cheerful thought; tliis succession of thought devel- 
opes into a series of pleasing ideas, in detail ; these 
ideas are associated with graceful and tender image- 
ry ; this imagery induces refinement and elegance in 
the style of language in which it is embodied ; these 
qualities of style give a pleasing and harmonious fiow 
to the sentential structure of the composition ; tlus 
harmony is developed in accordant phrases ; and these 
11# 



126 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

resolve themselves into well- chosen ivords, — At every 
successive step of our analysis, we trace a pervad- 
ing principle of unity, — the pleasing emotion which 
is suggested by the subject, and diffuses itself over 
every feature of the whole production. 

To feel the full value of the exercise of critical 
judgment and taste, in the use of words, we do well, 
occasionally to invert the order of study which has 
just been exemplified in the analysis of composition, 
and, following the constructive method, to trace the 
well-chosen word to its necessary effect on the cha- 
racter of phraseology, — the phraseology as deter- 
mining the structure, — the structure as influencing 
the style, — the style as constituting, in part, the elo- 
quence of the passage, — the eloquence as coloring 
the ideas, — the ideas as determining the current of 
thought, — and the train of thought as modifying, for 
the time, the subject. 

The passage which we have used to exemplify 
analysis, if taken as an illustration of the construct- 
ive process in rhetoric, would be characterised as 
follows : The author's appropriate choice of words, 
giYe^ pliancy to Yiis phraseology, fluency and harmony 
to his sentences, elegance to his style, gracefulness to 
his imagery, vivacity and beauty to his ideas, and at- 
tractive interest to his sidyject. 

Even this brief enumeration of qualities, however, 
reminds us that, as it commences with ascribing ap- 
propriateness to the writer's choice of words, we must 
still revert to the tone and character of the subject, 
as the standard by which to judge correctly of every 
point in expression. To verify, therefore, our fu'st 
statement regarding the passage under consideration, 
the reasons for our decision must be traced in logi- 
cal sequence, or analogous successio-n, in the follow- 
ing manner : The subject of composition, in the 
present instance, is the moral effect of spring ; or, re- 
ducing the subject to its simplest element, we may 



ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITION. 127 

leave but the single word sjmng, as the theme. By 
the inevitable law of association, this word suggests, 
to all minds, ideas of animation, cheerfulness, beauty, 
serenity, tenderness. The mental scene is, univer- 
sally, one oi genial amenity. To present such scene- 
ry, therefore, in a word-picture, we feel that we 
must avoid all terms associated with mere force, — 
with harshness, abruptness, vehemence, or violence 
of action, or with sternness or moroseness of feeling, 
pur words, we are aware, must be suggestive oi gen- 
tleness, kindliness, life, and grace. — Comparing the 
author's language in the extract before us, with these 
qualities, we find that he nowhere disturbs the se- 
renity, or overclouds the cheerfulness, or deadens 
the pathos of his descriptions, by inappropriate ex- 
pression, but that every idea and every epithet which 
he introduces, is in keeping with the scene before 
him, which his words never bedim or obscure, but 
rather tend to brighten and enhance; and his lan- 
guage, throughout, we unhesitatingly pronounce 
" appropriater 

Suggestions to Students. — To determine, with crit- 
ical accuracy of judgment, the appropriateness of 
even a single word in composition, it may thus be 
necessary to advert to the character of the subject, 
as requiring one mode of expression, rather than an- 
other, and therefore indicating the choice of one 
term, in preference to another, in our style of lan- 
guage.^ Facihty and readiness of discrimination, as 
to the fitness of words for the various forms of 
thought, become matters of tact and intuition, after 
the discipline of due practice. But, without such 
training, the young wiiter is alwa^^s in danger of fall- 
ing into the random expressions and loose phrases 



* Koget's Thesaurus of English words, before mentioned, will 
be found an invaluable aid in this department of rhetorical cul- 
ture, to which it is peculiarly and most successfully adapted. 



128 EXERCISES ON WORDS. 

wliicli SO generally characterise the effusions of the 
immature mind and the unpractised pen. The care- 
ful analysis of composition, as a frequent exercise, is 
therefore of the utmost importance, as a preparation 
for good writing. It serves, also, as an effectual 
training for other purposes, of equal moment. — The 
exercise of tracing the treatment of subjects, and the 
evolution of topics, in the compositions of great wri- 
ters, may not unjustly be compared to a species of 
mental gymnastics, by which the student is trained 
not only to expertness in the intellectual processes 
connected with critical analysis, as a preparation for 
correct writing, but to skill in the management and 
methodising of subjects, for the purposes of state- 
ment and discussion in oral address, — a department 
of rhetorical culture which still receives a very in- 
adequate degree of attention in our seminaries of 
education. 

To return to our immediate subject, the cultivation 
of critical correctness of taste, with reference to the 
character of expression, as decided by choice of 
words, — we may leave this branch of practical rhet- 
oric with the concluding remark, that the many rules 
which are laid down by the rhetorician, for the guid- 
ance of the young writer in choice of expression, 
may be summed up in the single direction to culti- 
vate soundness of critical judgment and purity of 
taste. Criticism, whether regarded as a science or 
as an art, does nothing more than embody and pre- 
scribe the maxims of good sense, suggested by ex- 
tensive observation, careful examination, and diligent 
study, — and founded on solid information and assid- 
uous self- discipline. The laws of pure taste, in lan- 
guage, as in all other forms of expression, are but 
equivalents for the suggestions proceeding from a 
genuine love of nature, the study of true art, and the 
habitual perusal of the best writers, — to the exclu- 
sion of all whose character is mxcrely ordinary or in- 
ferior. 



SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 



[The following extracts are presented for the purpose of avoid- 
ing the inconvenience and loss of time, to the student, which 
would be caused by frequent references to the library, for the ma- 
terial on which to practise the exercises prescribed on synonyms 
and other topics, in preceding pages of this manual, and, more 
particularly, that on the analysis of composition. The extracts 
furnish examples of the varying character of the English lan- 
guage, from its earlier prose forms to our own time. They are 
introduced to aid the student in forming a correct conception of 
the prominent characteristics of eminent writers whose modes of 
expression are standards of reference, as models of style, and, in 
particular, of acknowledged classical purity and propriety in their 
choice and use of words. The close, analytic study of such au- 
thors, is the best of all resorts for the acquisition of true taste and 
critical discernment, — the indispensable conditions of a skilful 
and effective use of language.] 



EXTRACT I. 

Truth, Lord Bacon. 

What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not 
stay for an answer. Certainly there be that delight 
in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; 
affecting freewill in thinking, as well as in acting : 
and, though the sects of philosophers of that kind be 
gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wdts which 
are of the same veins, though there be not so much 
blood in them as was in those of the ancients. But 
it is not only the difficulty and labor which men take 

029) 



130 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

in finding out of truth ; nor again, that, when it is 
found, it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth 
bring hes in favor ; but a natural though corrupt love 
of the lie itself. One of the later schools of the Gre- 
cians examineth the matter, and is at a stand to 
think what should be in it, that men should love lies, 
where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets ; 
nor for advantage, as with the merchant ; but for the 
lie's sake. But I cannot tell : this same truth is a 
naked and open daylight, that doth not shew the 
masques, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, 
half so stately and daintily as candlelights. Truth 
may, perhaps, come to the price of a pearl, that 
sheweth best by day ; but it will not rise to the price 
of a diamond or carbuncle, that sheweth best in va- 
ried lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleas- 
ure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken 
out of men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, 
false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the 
like, it would leave the minds of a number of men 
poor shrunken things, fuU of melancholy indisposi- 
tion, and unpleasing to themselves ? 

One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy, 
the wine of demons, because it filleth the imagina- 
tion ; and yet it is but the shadow of a lie. But it is 
not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie 
that sinketh in and settleth in it, that doth the hurt, 
such as we spake of before. But howsoever these 
things are thus in men's depraved judgments and 
affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, 
teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love- 
making, or wooing, of it; the knowledge of truth, 
which is the presence of it ; and the belief of truth, 
which is the enjoying of it; is the sovereign good of 
human nature. 

The first creature of God, in the works of the da^^s, 
was the light of the sense ; the last was the light of 
reason ; and his sabbath v/ork, ever since, is the illu- 



EXTRACT I. 131 

mination of his Spirit. First lie breathed hght upon 
the face of the matter, or chaos ; then he breathed 
hght into the face of man ; and stih he breatheth and 
inspireth hght into the face of his chosen. 

The poet that beautified the sect that was other- 
wise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well, 
" It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see 
ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the 
window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the ad- 
ventures thereof below ; but no pleasure is compara- 
ble to the standing upon the vantage ground of 
truth, (a hill not to be commanded, and where the 
air is always clear and serene,) and to see the 
errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in 
the vale below : " so always, that this prospect be 
with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly 
it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move 
in charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles 
of truth. 

To pass from theological and philosophical truth 
to the truth of civil business, it will be acknowledged, 
even by those that practise it not, that clear and 
sound dealing is the honor of man's nature, and that 
mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and 
silver, wliich may make the metal work the better, 
but it embaseth it : for these winding and crooked 
courses are the goings of the serpent ; which goeth 
basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There 
is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as 
to be found false and perfidious : and therefore Mon- 
taigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason 
why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, 
and such an odious charge, " If it be well weighed, 
to say that a man lieth, is as much as to say that he 
is brave towards God, and a coward towards men : 
for a lie faces God, and shrinks from man." Surely 
the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith can- 
not possibly be so highly expressed as in that it shall 



132 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

be the last peal to call the judgments of God upon 
the generations of men ; it being foretold that when 
*' Christ Cometh," he shall not " find faith upon earth." 



EXTRACT 11. 



Leammg. Lord Bacon. 



Learning taketh away the wildness and barbarism 
and fierceness of men's minds : it taketh away all 
levity, temerity, and insolency, by copious sugges- 
tion of all doubts and difficulties, and acquainting 
the mind to balance reasons on both sides, and to 
turn back the first offers and conceits of the mind, 
and to accept of nothing but examined and tried. 
It taketh away vain admiration of anything, which is 
the root of all weakness : for all things are admired, 
either because they are new, or because they are 
great. 

For novelty, no man that wadeth in learning or 
contemplation thoroughly, but will find that printed 
in heart, " There is nothing new upon the earth." 
Neither can any man marvel at the play of puppets, 
that goeth behind the curtain, and adviseth well of 
the motion. And for magnitude, as Alexander the 
Great, after that he was used to great armies, and 
the great conquests of the spacious provinces in 
Asia, when he received letters out of Greece, of some 
fights and services there, which were commonly for 
a passage, or a fort, or some walled town, at the 
most, he said, " It seemed to him, that he was ad- 
vertised of the battle of the frogs and the mice, that 
the old tales went of." So certainly, if a man me- 
ditate upon the universal frame of nature, the earth 
with men upon it, the divineness of souls excepted, 
will not seem much other than an anthill ; whereas 



EXTRACT II. 133 

some ants cany corn, and some cany their young, 
and some go empty, and all to-and-fro a little heap 
of dust. It taketh a^vay or mitigateth fear of death, 
or adverse fortune ; which is one of the greatest im- 
pediments of virtue, and imperfections of manners. 
For if a man's mind be deeply seasoned with the 
consideration of the mortality and corruptible nature 
of things, he will easily concur with Epictetus, who 
went forth, one day, and saw a woman weeping for 
her pitcher of earth that Avas broken ; and went forth 
the next day, and saw a woman weeping for her son 
that was dead ; and thereupon said, " Yesterday, I 
saw the brittle broken: — to-day, I saAV the mortal 
dead." And therefore Virgil did excellently and 
profoundly couple the knowledge of cause and the 
conquest of all fears together, as '' concomitants." 

" Happy the man, whose vigorous soul can pierce 
Through the formatfon of this universe ! 
Who nobly dares despise, with soul sedate, 
The din of Acheron, and vulgar fears, and fate." 

It were too long to go over the particular remedies 
which learning doth minister to all the diseases of 
the mind ; sometimes purging the ill-humors, some- 
times opening the obstructions, sometimes helping 
digestion, sometimes healing the wounds and exul- 
cerations thereof, and the like ; and therefore I will 
conclude with that which hath " the greater reason 
of all," which is, that it disposeth the constitution of 
the mind not to be fixed or settled in the defects 
thereof, but still to be capable and susceptible of 
growth and reformation. For the unlearned man 
knows not what it is to descend into himself, or to 
call himself to account; nor the pleasure of "that 
most pleasant life, to feel himself daily growing bet- 
ter." The good parts he hath he will learn to show 
to the full, and use them dexterously, but not much 
to increase them ; the faults he hath he will learn 
12 



134 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

how to hide and color them, but not much to amend 
them; hke an ill mower, that mows on still, and 
never whets his scythe. Whereas, with the learned 
man it fares otherwise, that he doth ever intermix 
the correction and amendment of his mind with the 
use and employment thereof. Nay, farther, — in 
general and in sum, — certain it is that truth and 
goodness differ but as the seal and the print : for 
truth j)rints goodness ; and they be the clouds of er- 
ror which descend in the storms of passion and per- 
turbations. 



EXTRACT III. 

Conditions of Study, Locke. 

The knowledge we acquire in this world, I am 
apt to think, extends not beyond the limits of this 
life. The beatific vision of the other life needs not 
the help of this dim twilight ; but be that as it will, I 
am sure the principal end why we are to get know- 
ledge here, is to make use o^ it for the benefit of 
ourselves and others in this world ; but if, by gain- 
ing it we destroy our health, we labor for a thing 
that will be useless in our hands ; and if by harass- 
ing our bodies, (though with a design to render our- 
selves more useful,) we deprive ourselves of the 
abilities and opportunities of doing that good we 
might have done with a meaner talent, which God 
thought sufficient for us, by having denied us the 
strength to improve it to that pitch which men of ; 
stronger constitutions can attain to, we rob God of ; 
so much service, and our neighbor of all that help 
which, in a state of health, with moderate know- 
ledge, we might have been able to perform. He 
that sinks his vessel by overloading it, though it be 



EXTRACT III. 135 

with gold and silver, and precious stones, will give 
his owner but an ill account of his voyage. 

It being past doubt, then, that allowance is to be 
made for the temper and strength of our bodies, and 
that our health is to regulate the measure of our stu- 
dies, the great secret is to find out the proportion ; 
the difficulty whereof lies in this, that it must not 
only be varied according to the constitution and 
strength of every individual man, but it must also 
change with the temper, vigor, and circumstances 
and health of every particular man, in the different 
varieties of health, or indisposition of body, which 
every thing our bodies have any commerce with is 
able to alter : so that it is as hard to say how many 
hours a day a man shall study constantly, as to say 
how much meat he shall eat, every day, wherein his 
own prudence, governed by the present circumstan- 
ces, can only judge. The regular proceeding of our 
watch not being the fit measure of time, but the 
secret motions of a much more curious engine, our 
bodies, being to limit out the proportion of time in 
this occasion ; however, it may be so contrived that 
all the time may not be lost, for the conversation of 
an ingenious friend upon what one hath read in the 
morning, or any other profitable subject, may per- 
haps let into the mind as much improvement of 
knowledge, though with less prejudice to the health, 
as settled solemn poring over books, which we gene- 
rally call study; which, though no necessary part, 
yet I am sure is not the only, and perhaps not the 
best, way of improving the understanding. 

As the body, so the mind, also, gives laws to our 
studies ; I mean to the duration and continuance of 
them ; let it be never so capacious, never so active, 
it is not capable of constant labor nor total rest. 
The labor of the mind is study, or intention of 
thought, and when we find it is weary, either in 



136 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

pursuing other men's thoughts, as in reading, or tum- 
bling or tossing its own, as in meditation, it is time 
to give off, and let it recover itself. Sometimes me- 
ditation gives a refreshment to the vi^eariness of read- 
ing, and vice versa, sometimes the change of ground, 
i. e., going from one subject or science to another 
rouses the mind, and fills it with fresh vigor ; often- 
times discourse enlivens it when it flags, and puts 
an end to the weariness without stopping it one jot, 
but rather forwarding it in its journey; and some- 
times it is so tired, that nothing but a perfect relaxa- 
tion will serve the turn. All these are to be made 
use of, according as every one finds most successful 
in himself, to the best husbandry of his time and 
thouprht. 



EXTRACT IV. 

Love of Truth. Locke. 

It is a duty we owe to God, as the fountain and 
author of all truth, who is truth itself; and it is a 
duty also we owe to our own selves, if we will deal 
candidly and sincerely with our own souls, to have 
our minds constantly disposed to entertain and re- 
ceive truth wheresoever Ave meet with it, or under 
whatsoever appearance of plain or ordinary, strange, 
new, or, perhaps, displeasing, it may come in our 
w^ay. Truth is the proper object, the proper riches 
and furniture of the mind ; and according as his stock 
of this is, so is the difference and value of one man 
above another. He that fills his head with vain no- 
tions and false opinions, may have his mind perhaps 
puffed up, and seemingly much enlarged, but, in 
truth, it is na^rrov/ and empty ; for all that it compre- 
hends, all that it contains, amounts to nothing, .or 



EXTRACT IV. 137 

less than nothing ; for falsehood is below ignorance, 
and a lie worse than nothing. 

Our first and great duty, then, is to bring to our 
studies and to our inquiries after knowledge, a mind 
covetous of truth ; that seeks after nothing else, and 
after that impartially, and embraces it, how poor, 
how contemptible, hov/ unfashionable soever it may 
seem. This is that which all studious men profess 
to do, and yet it is that where I think very many 
miscarry. Who is there, almost, that has not opin- 
ions planted in him by education, time out of mind ; 
wliich by that means come to be as the municipal 
laws of the country, which must not be questioned, 
but are then looked on with reverence, as the stand- 
ards of right and wrong, truth and falsehood ; when, 
perhaps, these so sacred opinions were but the ora- 
cles of the nursery, or the traditional gi*ave talk of 
those who pretend to inform our childhood ; who re- 
ceived them from hand to hand, without ever exam- 
ining them. This is the fate of our tender age, 
which being thus seasoned early, it grows by con- 
tinuation of time, as it were into the very constitu- 
tion of the mind, wliich afterwards very difficultly 
receives a different tincture. When we are grown 
up, we find the world divided into bands and com- 
panies ; not only as congregated under several poli- 
ties and governments, but united only upon account 
of opinions, and in that respect, combined strictly 
one with another, and distinguished from others, es- 
pecially in matters of religion. If birth or chance 
have not thrown a man young into any of these, 
which yet seldom fails to happen, choice, when he 
is grown up, certainly puts him into some or other 
of them ; often out of an opinion that that party is in 
the right, and, sometimes, because he finds it is not 
safe to stand alone, and therefore thinks it conven- 
ient to herd somewhere. Now, in every one of these 
parties of men there are a certain number of opin- 
12^ 



138 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

ions which are received and owned as the doctrines 
and tenets of that society, with the profession and 
practice whereof all who are of their communion, 
ought to give up themselves, or else they will be 
scarce looked on as of that society, or at best, be 
thought but lukewarm brothers, or in danger to apos- 
tatise. 

It is plain, in the great difference and contrariety 
of opinions that are amongst these several parties, 
that there is much falsehood and abundance of mis- 
takes in most of them. Cunning in some, and ignor- 
ance in others, first made them keep them up ; and 
yet how seldom is it that implicit faith, fear of losing 
credit with the party or interest, (for all these oper- 
ate in their turns,) suffers any one to question the 
tenet of his party ; but altogether in a bundle he re- 
ceives, embraces, and without examining, he pro- 
fesses, and sticks to them, and measures all other 
opinions by them. Worldly interest also insinuates 
into several men's minds divers opinions, which suit- 
ing with their temporal advantage, are kindly re- 
ceived, and, in time, so rivetted there, that it is not 
easy to remove them. By these, and, perhaps other 
means, opinions come to be settled and fixed in 
men's minds, which, whether true or false, there 
they remain in reputation, as substantial, material 
truths, and so are seldom questioned or examined by 
those "who entertain them ; and if they happen to be 
false, as, in most men, the greatest part must neces- 
sarily be, they put a man quite out of the way in the 
whole course of his studies ; and, though in his read- 
ing and inquiries, he flatters himself that his design 
is to inform his understanding in the real knowledge 
of truth, yet in effect it tends and reaches to nothing 
but the confirming of his already received opinions, 
the things he meets with in other men's writings 
and discoveries being received or neglected as they 
hold proportion with those anticipations which be- 
fore had taken possession of his mind. 



EXTRACT V. 139 

EXTRACT V. 

Aids to the Acquisition of Knowledge, Locke. 

One thing, wliicli is of great use for the clear con- 
ception of truth, is, if we can bring ourselves to it, to 
think upon things, abstracted and separate from 
words. Words, without doubt, are the great and al- 
most only way of conveyance of one man's thoughts 
to another man's understanding; but when a man 
thinks, reasons, and discourses within himself, I see 
not what need he has of them. I am sure it is bet- 
ter to lay them aside, and have an immediate con- 
verse with the ideas of the things ; for words are, in 
their own nature, so doubtful and obscure, their sig- 
nification, for the most part, so uncertain and unde- 
termined, which men even designedly have in their 
use of them increased, that if, in our meditations, 
our thoughts busy themselves about words, and stick 
at the names of things, it is odds but they are misled 
or confounded. This, perhaps, at first sight may 
seem but a useless nicety ; and in the practice, per- 
haps, it will be found more difficult than one would 
imagine ; but yet, upon trial, I dare say any one's 
experience will tell him it was worth while to en- 
deavor it. He that would call to mind his absent 
friend, or preserve his memory, does it best and most 
effectually by reviving in his mind the idea of him, 
and contemplating that ; and it is but a very faint 
imperfect way of thinking of one's friend barely to 
remember his name, and think upon the sound he is 
usually called by. 

It is of great use in the pursuit of knowledge not 
to be too confident, nor too distrustful of our own 
judgment, nor to believe w^e can comprehend all 
things, nor nothing. He that distrusts his own judg- 
ment, in every thing, and thinks his understanding 



140 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

not to be relied on in the search of truth, cuts off his 
own legs, that he may be carried up and down by 
others, and makes himself a ridiculous dependent 
upon the knowledge of others, which can possibly be 
of no use to him ; for I can no more know any thing 
by another man's understanding, than I can see by 
another man's eyes. So much I know, so much 
truth I have got ; so far I am in the right, as I do 
really know myself; whatever other men have, it is 
in their possession ; it belongs not to me, nor can be 
communicated to me, but by making me alike know- 
ing: it is a treasure that cannot be lent or made 
over. On the other side, he that thinks his under- 
standing capable of all things, mounts upon wings 
of his own fancy, though, indeed, nature never 
meant him any, and so venturing into the vast ex- 
panse of incomprehensible varieties, only makes 
good the fable of Icarus, and loses himself in the 
abyss. We are here in the state of mediocrit3^; 
finite creatures, furnished with powers and faculties 
very well fitted to some purposes, but very dispro- 
portionate to the vast and unlimited extent of things. 
It would, therefore, be of great service to us to 
know how far our faculties can reach, that so we 
might not go about to fathom where our line is too 
short; to know what things are the proper objects of 
our inquiries and understanding, and where it is we 
ought to stop, and launch out no farther, for fear of 
losing ourselves or our labor. This, perhaps, is an 
inquiry of as much difficulty as any we shall find in 
our way of knowledge, and fit to be resolved by a 
man when he is come to the end of his study ^ and 
not to be proposed to one at his setting out ; it being 
properly the result to be expected after a long and 
diligent research to determine what is knowable and 
what not, and not a question to be resolved by the 
guesses of one who has scarce yet acquainted him- 
self with obvious truths. I shall therefore, at pre- 



EXTRACT V. 141 

sent, suspend the thoughts I have had upon this 
subject, which ought maturely to be considered of, 
always remembering that things infinite are too large 
for our capacity; we can have no comprehensive 
knowledge of them, and our thoughts are at a loss 
and confounded, when they pry too curiously into 
them. The essences also of substantial beings, are 
beyond our ken ; the manner also how nature, in this 
great machine of the world, produces the several 
phenomena, and continues the species of things in a 
successive generation, is what, I tliink, lies also out 
of the reach of our understanding. That which 
seems to me to be suited to the end of man, and lie 
level to his understanding, is the improvement of 
natural experiments for the conveniences of this life, 
and the way of ordering himself so as to attain hap- 
piness in the other, — i. e. moral philosophy, which, 
in my sense, comprehends religion too, or a man's 
whole duty. 

It is too obvious a thing to mention the reading 
only the best authors on those subjects we would 
inform ourselves in. The reading of bad books is 
not only the loss of time, and standing still, but going 
backwards, quite out of one's way ; and he that has 
his head filled with Avrong notions, is much more at 
a distance from truth, than he that is perfectly igno- 
ro.nt. 

I will only say this one thing concerning books, 
that however it has got the name, yet converse with 
books is not, in my opinion, the principal part of 
study ; there are t^vo others that ought to be joined 
with it, each whereof contributes its share to our im- 
provement in knowledge ; and those are meditation 
and discourse. Reading, methinks, is but collecting 
the rough materials, amongst v/hich a great deal 
must be laid aside as useless. Meditation is, as it 
were, choosing and fitting the materials, framing the 
timbers, squaring and laying the stones, and raising 



142 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

the building; and discourse with a friend, (for wran- 
gUng in a dispute is of Httle use,) is, as it were, sur- 
veying the structure, walking in the rooms, and ob- 
serving the symmetry and agreement of the parts, 
taking notice of the solidity or defects of the works, 
and the best way to find out and correct what is 
amiss ; besides that it helps often to discover truths, 
and fix them in our minds, as much as either of the 
other two. 



EXTRACT VI. 

Employment of Time. Addison. 

We all of us complain of the shortness of time, 
saith Seneca, and yet have much more than we 
know what to do with. " Our lives," says he, '' are 
spent either in doing nothing at all, or in doing no- 
thing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we 
ought to do. We are always complaining our days 
are few, and acting as though there would be no 
end of them." That noble philosopher has described 
our inconsistency with ourselves in this particular, 
by all those various turns of expression and thought 
which are peculiar to his writings. 

I often consider mankind as wholly inconsistent 
with itself in a point that bears some afiinity to the 
former. Though we seem grieved at the shortness 
of life in general, we are wishing every period of it 
at an end. The minor longs to be at age, then to be 
a man of business, then to make up an estate, then 
to arrive at honors, then to retire. Thus, although 
the whole of life is allowed by every one to be short, 
the several divisions of it appear long and tedious. 
We are for lengthening our span in general, but 
would fain contract the parts of which it is com- 



EXTRACT VI. 143 

posed. The usurer would be very well satisfied to 
have all the thne annihilated that lies between the 
present moment and next quarter-day. The politi- 
cian would be contented to lose three years in his 
life, could he place things in the posture which he 
fancies they will stand in after such a revolution of 
time. The lover would be glad to strike out of his 
existence all the moments that are to pass away 
before the happy meeting. Thus, as fast as our. 
time runs, we should be very glad, in the most part^ 
of our lives, that it ran much faster than it does. 
Several hours of the day hang upon our hands ; nay, 
we wish away whole years, and travel through time 
as through a country filled Avith many wild and 
empty wastes, which we would fain hurry over, that 
we may arrive at those several little settlements or 
imaginary points of rest, which are dispersed up and 
down in it. 

If we divide the life of most men into twenty 
parts, we shall find that at least nineteen of them 
are mere gaps and chasms, which are neither filled 
^vith pleasure nor business. I do not however in- 
clude in this calculation the life of those men who 
are in a perpetual hurry of affairs, but of those only 
who are not always engaged in scenes of action; 
and I hope I shall not do an unacceptable piece of 
service to these persons, if I point out to them cer- 
tain methods for the filling up their empty spaces of 
life. The methods I shall propose to them are as 
follows : 

The first is the exercise of virtue, in the most 
general acceptation of the word. That particular 
scheme which comprehends the social virtues may 
give employment to the most industrious temper, 
and find a man in business more than the most ac- 
tive station of life. To advise the ignorant, relieve 
the needy, comfort the afilicted, are duties which fall 
in our way almost every day of our lives. A man 



144 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

has frequent opportunities of mitigating the fierce- 
ness of a party ; of doing justice to the character of 
a deserving man ; of softening the envious, quieting 
the angry, and rectifying the prejudiced ; which are 
all of them employments suited to a reasonable na- 
ture, and bring great satisfaction to the person VvT^Iio 
can busy himself in them with discretion. 

There is another kind of virtue that may find em- 
ployment for those retired hours in which we are al- 
together left to ourselves, and destitute of company 
and conversation ; I mean, that intercourse and com- 
munication which every reasonable creature ought 
to maintain with the great Author of his being. The 
man who lives under an habitual sense of the divine 
presence, keeps up a cheerfulness of temper, and 
enjoys every moment the satisfaction of thinking 
himself in company with his dearest and best of 
friends. The time never lies heavy upon him : it is 
impossible for him to be alone. His thoughts and 
passions are the most busied at such hours when 
those of other men are the most inactive. He no 
sooner steps out of the world but his heart burns 
with devotion, swells with hope, and triumphs in 
the consciousness of that Presence which every- 
where surrounds him ; or, on the contrary, pours out 
its fears, its sorrows, its apprehensions, to the great 
Supporter of its existence. 

I have here only considered the necessity of a 
man's being virtuous, that he may have something 
to do ; but if we consider farther, that the exercise 
of virtue is not only an amusement, for the time it 
lasts, but that its influence extends to those parts of 
our existence which he beyond the grave, and that 
our whole eternity is to take its color from those 
hours which we here employ in virtue or in vice, the 
argument redoubles upon us for putting in practice 
this method of passing away our time. 

When a man has but a little stock to improve, 



EXTRACT VI. 145 

and has opportunities of turning it all to good account, 
what shall we think of him if he suffers nineteen 
parts of it to lie dead, and perhaps employs even the 
twentieth to his ruin or disadvantage ? But because 
the mind cannot be always in its fervors, nor strain- 
ed up to a pitch of virtue, it is necessary to find out 
proper employments for it in its relaxations. 

The next method, therefore, that I would propose 
to fill up our time, should be useful and innocent 
diversions. I must confess I think it is below rea- 
sonable creatures to be altogether conversant in such 
diversions as are merely innocent, and have nothin'g 
else to recommend them but that there is no hurt in 
them. Whether any kind of gaming has even thus 
much to say for itself, I shall not determine ; but I 
think it is very wonderful to see persons of the best 
sense passing away a dozen hours together in shuf- 
fling and dividing a pack of cards, with no other 
conversation but what is made up of a few game 
plnases, and no other ideas but those of black or red 
spots ranged together in different figures. Would 
not a man laugh to hear any one of this species com- 
plaining that life is short ? 

The stage might be made a perpetual source of 
the most noble and useful entertainments, were it 
under proper regulations. 

But the mind never unbends itself so agreeably as 
in the conversation of a well chosen friend. There 
is, indeed, no blessing of life that is any way compa- 
rable to the enjoyment of a discreet and virtuous 
friend. It eases and unloads the mind, clears and 
improves the understandmg, engenders thoughts and 
knowledge, animates virtue and good resolutions, 
soothes and allays the passions, and finds employ- 
ment for most of the vacant hours of fife. 

Next to such an intimacy with a particular person, 
one would endeavor after a more general conversa- 
tion with such as are able to entertam and improve 

13 



146 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

those with whom they converse, which are qiiahfi- 
cations that seldom go asunder. 

There are many other useful amusements of life 
which one would endeavor to multiply, that one 
might, on all occasions, have recourse to something, 
rather than suffer the mind to lie idle, or run adrift 
with any passion that chances to rise in it. 

A man that has a taste of music, painting, or arch- 
itecture, is like one that has another sense, when 
compared with such as have no relish of those arts. 
The florist, the planter, the gardener, the husband- 
man, when they are only as accomplishments to the 
man of fortune, are great reliefs to a country life, 
and many ways useful to those who are possessed 
of them. 

But, of all the diversions of life, there is none so 
proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of 
useful and entertaining authors. But this I shall 
only touch upon, because it, in some measure, inter- 
feres with the third method, which I shall propose 
for the employment of our dead unactive hours, and 
which I shall only mention, in general, to be the 
pursuit of knowledge. 



EXTRACT VIL 

The Immortality of the Soul, Addison. 

The course of my late speculations led me insen- 
sibly into a subject upon which I always meditate 
with great delight; I mean, the immortality of the 
soul. I was yesterday walking alone, in one of my 
friend's woods, and lost myself in it, very agreeably, 
as I was running over, in my mind, the several ar- 
guments that establish this great point, which is the 
basis of morality, and the source of all the pleasing 



EXTRACT VII. 147 

hopes and secret joys that can arise m the heart of a 
reasonable creature. I considered those several 
proofs drawn, 

First, from the nature of the soul itself, and parti- 
cularly, its immateriality, which though not absolute- 
ly necessary to the eternity of its duration, has, I 
think, been evinced to almost a demonstration. 

Secondly, from its passions and sentiments, as 
particularly, from its love of existence, its horror of 
annihilation, and its hopes of immortality, with that 
secret satisfaction which it finds in the practice of 
virtue, and that uneasiness v/hich follows in it upon 
the commission of vice. 

Thirdly, from the nature of the Supreme Being, 
whose justice, goodness, wisdom, and veracity, are 
all concerned in this great point. 

But, among these and other excellent arguments 
for the immortality of the soul, there is one drawn 
from the perpetual progress of the soul to its perfec- 
tion, without a possibility of ever arriving at it ; which 
is a hint that I do not remember to have seen open- 
ed and improved by others who have written on this 
subject, though it seems to me to carry a great weight 
with it. — How can it enter into the thoughts of 
man, that the soul, which is capable of such immense 
perfections, and of receiving new improvements to 
all eternity, shall fall away into nothing, almost as 
soon as it is created ? Are such abilities made for 
no purpose ? A brute arrives at a point of perfec- 
tion that he can never pass : in a few years he has 
all the endoAvments he is capable of; and, were he 
to live ten thousand more, would be the same thing 
he is at present. Were a human soul thus at a 
stand in her accomplishments, were her faculties to 
be full bloAvn, and incapable of farther enlargements, 
I could imagine it might fall away insensibly, and 
drop at once into a state of annihilation. But can 
we believe that a thinking being, which is in a per- 



148 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

petual progress of improvements, and travelling on 
from perfection to perfection, after having just look- 
ed abroad into the works of its Creator, and made a 
few discoveries of his infinite goodness, wisdom, and 
power, must perish at her first setting out, and in 
the very beginning of her inquiries ? 

A man, considered in his present state, does not 
seem born to enjoy life, but to deliver it down to 
others. This is not surprising to consider, in ani- 
mals ; which are formed for our use, and can finish 
their business in a short life. The silkworm, after 
having spun her task, lays her eggs, and dies. But 
a man can never have taken in his full measure of 
knowledge, has not time to subdue his passions, es- 
tablish his soul in virtue, and come up to the perfec- 
tion of his nature, before he is hurried ofi' the stage. 
Would an infinitely wise Being make such glorious 
creatures for so mean a purpose? Can he dehght 
in the production of such abortive intelligences, such 
short-lived reasonable beings ? Would he give us 
talents that are not to be exerted ? — capacities that 
are never to be gratified? How can we fiiid that 
wisdom which shines through all His works, in the 
formation of man, without looking on this world as 
only a nursery for the next, and believing that the 
several generations of rational creatures, which rise 
up and disappear, in such quick successions, are 
only to receive their rudiments of existence here, 
and afterwards to be transplanted into a more friend- 
ly climate, where they may spread and fiourish to 
all eternity? 

There is not, in my opinion, a more pleasing and 
triumphant consideration, than this, of the perpetual 
progress ^vhich the soul makes towards the perfec- 
tion of its nature, without ever arriving at a period 
in it. To look upon the soul as going on from 
strength to strength, to consider that she is to shine 
for ever, with new accessions of glory, and brighten 



EXTRACT VII. 149 

to all eternity ; that she will be still adding virtue to 
virtue, and knowledge to knowledge; carries in it 
something wonderfully agreeable to that ambition 
wliich is natural to the mind of man. Nay, it must 
be a prospect pleasing to God himself, to see his 
creation forever beautifying in his eyes, and draw- 
ing nearer to him, by greater degrees of resemblance. 

Methinks tliis simple consideration, of the pro- 
gress of a finite spirit to perfection, will be sufficient 
to extinguish all envy in inferior natures, and all 
contempt in superior. That cherubim, w^hich now 
appears as a god to a human soul, knows very well 
that the period will come about in eternity, when 
the human soul shall be as perfect as he liimself 
now is : nay, w^hen she shall look down upon that 
degree of perfection, as much as she now falls short 
of it. It is true the higher nature still advances, 
and by that means preserves his distance and supe- 
riority in the scale of being; but he knows, how high 
soever the station is of which he stands possessed 
at present, the inferior nature wall at length mount 
up to it, and shine forth in the same degree of glory. 

With w^hat astonishment and veneration may we 
look into our own souls, where there are such hid- 
den stores of virtue and knowledge, such unexhaust- 
ed sources of perfection ! We know not yet what 
we shall be ; nor will it ever enter into the heart of 
man to conceive the glory that will be always in re- 
serve for him. The soul, considered Avith its Creator, 
is like one of those mathematical lines that may draw 
nearer to another for all eternity, without a possi- 
bility of touching it ; ^ and can there be a thought so 
transporting, as to consider ourselves in these perpe- 
tual approaches to Him, who is not only the stand- 
ard of perfection but of happiness ! 



^ Those lines are what geometricians call the asymptotes of 
the hyperbola ; and the allusion to them here is perhaps one of 
the most beautiful that has ever been made. 
13# 



150 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 



EXTRACT VIII 

Wisdom of Providence, Addison. 

To me, instinct in animals seems the immediate 
direction of Providence, and such an operation of 
the Supreme Being, as that which determines all 
the portions of matter to their proper centres. A 
modern philosopher, quoted by Monsieur Bayle in 
his learned dissertation on the souls of brutes, de- 
livers the same opinion, though in a bolder form of 
words, where he says, " God himself is the soul of 
brutes." Who can tell what to call that seeming 
sagacity in animals, Avhich directs them to such food 
as is proper for them, and makes them naturally avoid 
whatever is noxious or unwholesome ? Dampier, in 
his Travels, tells us^ that when seamen are thrown 
upon any of the unknown coasts of America, they 
never venture upon the fruit of any tree, how tempt- 
ing soever it may appear, unless they observe that it 
is marked with the pecking of birds ; but fall on 
without any fear or apprehension where the birds 
have been before them. 

But, notwithstanding animals have nothing like 
the use of reason, we find in them all the lower 
parts of our nature, the passions and senses, in their 
greatest strength and perfection. And here it is 
worth our observation, that all beasts and birds of 
prey are wonderfully subject to anger, malice, re- 
venge, and all other violent passions that may ani- 
mate them in search of their proper food ; as those 
that are incapable of defending themselves, or an- 
noying others, or whose safety lies chiefly in their 
flight, are suspicious, fearful, and apprehensive of 
every thing they see or hear ; whilst others, that are 
of assistance and use to man, have their natures 
softened with something mild and tractable, and, by 



EXTRACT VIII. 151 

that means, are qualified for a domestic life. In this 
case, the passions generally correspond -with the 
make of the body. We do not find the fury of a 
lion in so weak and defenceless an animal as a 
lamb, nor the meekness of a lamb in a creature so 
armed for battle and assault as the lion. In the same 
manner, we find that particular animals have a more 
or less exquisite sharpness and sagacity in those 
particular senses wliich most turn to their advantage, 
and in which their safety and welfare are the most 
concerned. 

Nor must we here omit that greo.t variety of arms 
with which Nature has differently fortified the bodies 
of several kinds of animals ; such as claws, hoofs, 
horns, teeth, and tusks, a tail, a sting, a trunk, or a 
proboscis. It is like^vise observed by naturalists, that 
it must be some hidden principle, distinct from what 
we call reason, which instructs animxals m the use 
of these their arms, and teaches them to manage 
them to the best advantage ; because they naturally 
defend themselves with that part in which their 
strength lies, before the weapon be formed in it ; as 
is rem^arkable in lambs, which, though they are bred 
within doors, and never saw the actions of their own 
species, push at those who approach them Avith their 
foreheads, before the first budding of a horn appears. 

I shall add to these general observations an in- 
stance, which Mr. Locke has given us of Provi- 
dence, even in the imperfections of a creature which 
seems the meanest and most despicable in the whole 
animal world. '' We may," says he, " from the make 
of an oyster or cockle, conclude, that it has not so 
many nor so quick senses as a man, or several other 
animals : nor, if it had, would it, in that state and in- 
capacity of transferring itself from one place to an- 
other, be bettered by them. What good would sight 
and hearing do to a creature, that cannot move it- 
self to or from the object, wherein, at a distance, it 



152 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

perceives good or evil? And -would not quickness 
of sensation be an inconvenience to an animal that 
must be still where chance has once placed it, and 
there receive the afflux of colder or warmer, clean or 
foul water, as it happens to come to it " ? 

I shall add to this instance out of Mr. Locke an- 
other out of the learned Dr. More, who cites it from 
Cardan, in relation to another animal which Provi- 
dence has left defective, but, at the same time, has 
shown its wisdom in the formation of that organ in 
which it seems chiefly to have failed. " What is 
more obvious and ordinary than a mole? and yet 
what more palpable argument of Providence than 
she ? the members of her body are so exactly fitted 
to her nature and manner of life : for her dwelling 
under ground where nothing is to be seen. Nature 
has so obscurely fitted her with eyes, that naturalists 
can scarce agree whether she have any sight at all, 
or no. But for amends, what she is capable of, for 
her defence and warning of danger, she has very 
eminently conferred upon her ; for she is exceeding 
quick of hearing. And then her short tail and short 
legs, but broad forefeet armed with sharp claws ; we 
see by the event to what purpose they are ; she so 
swiftly working herself under ground, and making 
her way so fast in the earth as they that behold it 
cannot but admire it. Her legs therefore are short, 
that she need dig no more than will serve the mere 
thickness of her body : and her forefeet are broad, 
that she may scoop away much earth at a time ; and 
little or no tail she has, because she courses it not on 
the ground, like the rat or mouse, of whose kindred 
she is ; but lives under the earth, a.nd is fain to dig 
herself a dwelling there. And she making her way 
through so tliick an element, which will not yield 
easily, as the air or the water, it had been danger- 
ous to have drawn so long a train behind her ; for 
her enemy might fall upon her rear, and fetch her 



EXTRACT VIII. 153 

out, before she Imd completed or got full possession 
of her works." 

I cannot forbear mentiomng Mr. Boyle's remark 
upon this last creature, who, I remember, some- 
where in his works observes, that though the mole 
be not totally blind, (as it is commonly thought,) she 
has not sight enough to distinguish particular ob- 
jects. Her eye is said to have but one humor in it, 
which is supposed to give her the idea of light, but 
of nothing else, and is so formed that this idea is 
probably painful to the animal. Whenever she comes 
up into broad day, she might be in danger of being 
taken, unless she were thus aifected by a light strik- 
ing upon her eye, and immediately warning her to 
bury herself in her proper element. More sight would 
be useless to her, as none at all might be fatal. 

I have only instanced such animals as seem the 
most imperfect "works of nature ; and if Providence 
shows itself even in the blemishes of these crea- 
tures, how much more does it discover itself in the 
several endowments wliich it has variously bestow- 
ed upon such creatures as are more or less finished 
and completed in their several faculties, according to 
the condition of life in ^vhich they are posted ! 

I could v^dsh our Royal Society would compile a 
body of natural history, the best that could be gath- 
ered together from books and observations. If the 
several writers among them took each liis particular 
species, and gave us a distinct account of its origin- 
al, birth, and education; its policies, hostilities, and 
alliances ; with the frame and texture of its inward 
and outAvard parts, and particularly those that dis- 
tinguish it from all other animals, with their peculiar 
aptitudes for the state of being in which Providence 
has placed them ; it would be one of the best ser- 
vices their studies could do mankind, and not a little 
redound to the glory of the all-wise Contriver. 

It is true, such a natural history, after all the dis- 



154 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

quisitions of the learned, would be infinitely sliort 
and defective. Seas and deserts hide millions of 
animals from our observation. Innumerable artifices 
and stratagems are acted in the " howling wilder- 
ness," and in the " great deep," that can never come 
to our knowledge. Besides that there are infinitely 
more species of creatures which are not to be seen 
without, nor indeed with, the help of the finest 
glasses, than of such as are bulky enough for the 
naked eye to take hold of. However, from the con- 
sideration of such animals as lie within the compass 
of our knowledge, we might easily form a conclusion 
of the rest, that the same variety of wisdom and 
goodness runs through the whole creation, and puts 
every creature in a condition to provide for its safety 
and subsistence, in its proper station. 

TuUy has given us an admirable sketch of natural 
history, in his second book concerning the nature of 
the gods ; and that in a style so raised by metaphors 
and descriptions, that it lifts the subject above rail- 
lery and ridicule, which frequently fall on such nice 
obsei-vations, when they pass through the hands of 
an ordinary writer. 



EXTRACT IX. 

Good Intentions, Addison. 

It is the great art and secret of Christianity, (if I 
may use that phrase,) to manage our actions to the 
best advantage, and direct them in such a manner, 
that every thing -we do may turn to account at that 
great day when every thing we have done will be 
set before us. 

In order to give this consideration its full weight, 
w^e may cast all our actions under the division of 



EXTRACT IX. 155 

such as are in themselves either good, evil, or indif- 
ferent. If we divide our intentions after the same 
manner, and consider them with regard to our ac- 
tions, we may discover that great art and secret of 
rehgion which I have here mentioned. 

A good intention, joined to a good action, gives it 
its proper force and efficacy ; joined to an evil action, 
extenuates its malignity, and, in some cases, may 
take it wholly away ; and, joined to an indifferent 
action, turns it to virtue, and makes it meritorious, as 
far as human action can be so. 

In the next place, to consider in the same manner 
the influence of an evil intention upon our actions. 
An evil intention perverts the best of actions, and 
makes them, in reality, what the fathers, with a witty 
kind of zeal, have termed the virtues of the heathen 
world, so many shining sins. It destroys the inno- 
cence of an indifferent action, and gives an evil ac- 
tion all possible blackness and horror ; or, in the em- 
phatical language of sacred writ, makes '' sin exceed- 
ing sinful." 

If, in the last place, we consider the nature of an 
indifferent intention, we shall find that it destroys 
the merit of a good action ; abates, but never takes 
away, the malignity of an evil action ; and leaves an 
indifferent action in its natural state of indifference. 

It is, therefore, of unspeakable advantage to pos- 
sess our minds with an habitual good intention, and 
to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions at some 
laudable end, whether it be the glory of our Maker, 
the good of mankind, or the benefit of our o^vn souls. 

This is a sort of thrift, or good husbandry, in moral 
life, which does not throw away any single action, 
but makes every one go as far as it can. It multi- 
plies the means of salvation, increases the number 
of our virtues, and diminishes that of our vices. 

This zealous and active obedience, however, takes 
place in the great point we are recommending ; for 



156 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

if, instead of prescribing to ourselves indifferent ac- 
tions as duties, we apply a good intention to all our 
most indifferent actions, Ave make our very existence 
one continued act of obedience, we turn our diver- 
sions and amusements to our eternal advantage, and 
are pleasing Him whom we are made to please, in 
all the circumstances and occurrences of life. 

It is this excellent frame of mind, this holy ofh- 
ciousness, (if I may be allo^ved to call it such,) which 
is recommended to us by the apostle in that uncom- 
mon precept wherein he directs us to propose to our- 
selves the glory of our Creator in all our most indif- 
ferent actions, " whether we eat, or drink, or whatso- 
ever we do." 

A person, therefore, who is possessed with such 
an habitual good intention as that wliich I have been 
here speaking of, enters upon no single circumstance 
of life, without considering it as well pleasing to the 
great Author of his being, conformable to the dic- 
tates of reason, suitable to human nature in general, 
or to that particular station in which Providence has 
placed him. He lives in the perpetual sense of the 
Divine Presence, regards himself as acting in the 
whole course of his existence, under the observation 
and inspection of that Being, who is privy to all his 
motions and all his thoughts, who knows his " down- 
sitting and his uprising, who is about his path, and 
about his bed, and spieth out all his ways." In a 
word, he remembers that the eye of his Judge is al- 
ways upon him ; and in every action he reflects that 
he is doing A\rhat is commanded or allowed by Him 
who will hereafter either reward or punish it. This 
was the character of those holy men of old, who, in 
that beautiful phrase of Scripture, are said to have 
'^walked with God." 



EXTRACT X. 157 

EXTRACT X. 

Paradise Lost. Johnson. 

By the general consent of critics, the fu*st praise 
of genius is due to the writer of an epic poem ; as it 
requires an assemblage of all the powers which are 
singly sufficient for other compositions. Poetry is 
the art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calhng im- 
agination to the help of reason. Epic poetry under- 
takes to teach the most important truths by the most 
pleasing precepts, and therefore relates some great 
event in the most affecting manner. History must 
supply the writer with the rudiments of narration, 
Avhich he must improve and exalt by a nobler art, 
must animate by dramatic energy, and diversify by 
retrospection and anticipation ; morality must teach 
liim the exact bounds, and different shades of vice 
and virtue ; from policy, and the practice of hfe, he 
has to learn the discriminations of character, and the 
tendency of the passions, either single or combined ; 
and physiology, must supply him wdth illustrations 
and images. To put these materials to poetical use, 
is required an imagination capable of painting na- 
ture, and realizing fiction. Nor is he yet a poet till 
he has attained the whole extension of his language, 
distinguished all the delicacies of phrase, and all the 
colors of words, and learned to adjust their different 
sounds to all the varieties of metrical modulation. 

Bossu is of opinion, that the poet's first work is to 
find a moral, which his fable is afterward to illus- 
trate and establish. This seems to have been the 
process only of IMilton ; the moral of other poems is 
incidental and consequent ; in Milton's only it is es- 
sential and intrinsic. His purpose "was the most 
useful and the most arduous; "to vindicate the 
ways of God to man : " to shew the reasonableness 

14 



158 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

of religion, and the necessity of obedience to the Di- 
vine Law. 

To convey this moral, there must be a fable, a 
narration artfully constructed, so as to excite curios- 
ity, and surprise expectation. In this part of his 
work, Milton must be confessed to have equalled 
every other poet. He has involved, in his account 
of the fall of man, the events which preceded, and 
those that were to follow it : he has interwoven the 
whole system of theology with such propriety, that 
every part appears to be necessary ; and scarcely 
any recital is wished shorter for the sake of quicken- 
ing the progress of the main action. 

The subject of an epic poem is naturally an event 
of great importance. That of Milton is not the de- 
struction of a city, the conduct of a colony, or the 
foundation of an empire. His subject is the fate of 
worlds, the revolutions of heaven and of earth ; re- 
bellion against the supreme King, raised by the high- 
est order of created beings ; the overthrow of their 
host, and the punishment of their crime ; the crea- 
tion of a new race of reasonable creatures, their orig- 
inal happiness and innocence, their forfeitures of 
immortality, and their restoration to hope and peace. 

Great events can be hastened or retarded only by 
persons of elevated dignity. Before the greatness 
displayed in Milton's poem, all other greatness 
shrinks away. The weakest of his agents are the 
highest and noblest of human beings, the original 
parents of mankind; with whose actions the ele- 
ments consented ; on w^hose rectitude, or deviation 
of will, depended the state of terrestrial nature, and 
the condition of all the future inhabitants of the 
globe. 

Of the other agents in the poem, the chief are 
such as it is irreverence to name on slight occasions. 
The rest were lower powers : — 



EXTRACT XI. 159 



• of which the least could wield 



Those elements, and arm him with the force 
Of all their regions ; 

powers, which only the control of Omnipotence re- 
strains from laying creation waste, and filling the 
vast expanse of space with ruin and confusion. To 
display the motives and actions of beings thus supe- 
rior, so far as human reason can examine them, or 
human imagination represent them, is the task which 
this mighty Poet has undertaken and performed. 



EXTRACT XI. 

Metaphysical Foetry, Johnson. 

Wit, like all other things subject by their nature 
to the choice of man, has itS changes and fashions, 
and at different times takes different forms. About 
the beginning of the seventeenth century, appeared 
a race of Aviiters that may be termed the metaphy- 
sical poets. 

These were men of learning; and to show then 
learning was their whole endeavor : but, unluckily 
resolving to show it in rhyme, instead of Avritmg 
poetry, they only wrote verses, and very often such 
verses as stood the trial of the fhiger better than of 
the ear ; for the modulation was so imperfect that 
they were only found to be verses by counting the 
syllables. 

If the father of criticism has rightly denominated 
poetiy, " an imitative art," these wnriters Avill, with- 
out great wrong, lose their right to the name of 
poets ; for they cannot be said to have imitated any 
thing : they neither copied nature nor Hfe ; neither 
painted the forms of matter, nor represented the 
operations of intellect. 



160 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

Those, however, who deny them to be poets, al- 
low them to be wits. Dryden confesses of himself 
and his contemporaries, that they fall below Donne 
in wit; but maintains, that they surpass him in 
poetry. 

If wit be well described by Pope, as being " that 
which has been often thought, but was never before 
so well expressed," they certainly never attained, 
nor ever sought it ; for they endeavored to be singu- 
lar in their thoughts, and were careless .of their dic- 
tion. But Pope's account of wit is undoubtedly er- 
roneous ; he depresses it below its natural dignity, 
and reduces it from strength of thought to happiness 
of language. 

If, by a more noble and more adequate concep- 
tion, that be considered as wit, which is at once 
natural and new, that which, though not obvious, is, 
upon its first production, acknowledged to be just ; if 
it be that which he thaf never found it wonders how 
he missed ; to wit of this kind the metaphysical poets 
have seldom risen. Their thoughts are often new, 
but seldom natural ; they are not obvious, but neither 
are they just; and the reader, far from wondering 
that he missed them, wonders more frequently by 
what perverseness of industry they were ever found. 

But wit, abstracted from its effects upon the hear- 
er, may be more rigorously and philosophically con- 
sidered as a combination of dissimilar images, or dis- 
covery of occult resemblances in things apparently 
unlike. Of wit, thus defined, they have more than 
enough. The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked 
by violence together ; nature and art are ransacked 
for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions ; their 
learning instructs, and their subtlety surprises; but 
the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly 
bought, and, though he sometimes admires, is sel- 
dom pleased. 

From this account of their compositions, it will be 



EXTRACT XI. 161 

readily inferred that they were not successful in re- 
presenting or moving the affections. As they were 
wholly employed on something unexpected and sur- 
prising, they had no regard to that uniformity of sen- 
timent which enables us to conceive and to excite 
the pains and the pleasure of other minds : they 
never inquired what, on any occasion, they should 
have said or done; but wrote rather as beholders 
than partakers of human nature ; as beings looking 
upon good and evil, impassive and at leisure; as 
Epicurean deities, making remarks on the actions of 
men, and the vicissitudes of life, without interest 
and without emotion. Their courtship was void of 
fondness, and their lamentation of sorrow. Their 
wish was only to say what they hoped had never 
been said before. 

Nor was the sublime more within their reach than 
the pathetic ; for they never attempted that compre- 
hension and expanse of thought which at once fills 
the whole mind ; and of which the first efiect is sud- 
den astonishment, and the second rational admira- 
tion. Subhmity is produced by aggregation, and lit- 
tleness by dispersion. Great thoughts are always 
general, and consist in positions not limited by ex- 
ceptions, and descriptions not descending to minute- 
ness. It is with great propriety that subtlety, which, 
in its original import, means exility of particles, is 
taken in its metaphorical meaning for nicety of dis- 
tinction. Those writers who lay on the watch for 
novelty, could have little hope of greatness ; for great 
things cannot have escaped former observation. 
Their attempts were always analytic ; they broke 
every image into fragments ; and could no more re- 
present, by their slender conceits and labored parti- 
cularities, the prospects of nature, or the scenes of 
life, than he who dissects a sun-beam with a prism, 
can exhibit the wide effulgence of a summer noon. 

What they wanted, however, of the sublime, they 
14# 



162 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

endeavored to supply by hyperbole ; their amplifica- 
tion had no limits ; they left not only reason but fancy 
behind them ; and produced combinations of con- 
fused magnificence, that not only could not be credit- 
ed, but could not be imagined. 

Yet great labor, directed by great abilities, is never 
wholly lost : if they frequently threw away their wit 
upon false conceits, they likewise sometimes struck 
out unexpected truth : if their conceits were far- 
fetched, they were often worth the carriage. To 
write, on their plan, it was at least necessary to read 
and think. No man could be born a metaphysical 
poet, nor assume the dignity of a writer, by descrip- 
tions copied from descriptions, by imitations borrow- 
ed from imitations, by hereditary similes, by readi- 
ness of rhyme, and volubility of syllables. 

In perusing the works of this race of authors, the 
mind is exercised either by recollection or inquiry ; 
either something already learned is to be retrieved, 
or something new examined. If their greatness sel- 
dom elevates, their acuteness often surprises ; if the 
imagination is not always gratified, at least the 
powers of reflection and comparison are employed ; 
and, in the mass of materials which ingenious ab- 
surdity has thrown together, genuine Avit and useful 
knowledge may be sometimes found buried, perhaps, 
in grossness of expression, but useful to those who 
know their value ; and such as, when they are ex- 
panded to perspicuity, and polished to elegance, may 
give lustre to works which have more propriety, 
though less copiousness of sentiment. 



EXTRACT XII, 163 

EXTRACT XII. 

Parallel between Tope and Dry den. Johnson. 

Of composition there are diiferent methods. Some 
employ, at once, memory and invention, and, with 
httle intermediate nse of the pen, form and poHsh 
large masses by continued meditation, and write then 
productions only when, in their OAvn opinion, they 
have completed them. It is related of Virgil, that 
his custom v/as to pour out a great number of verses 
in the morning, and pass the day in retrenching exu- 
berances, and correcting inaccuracies. The method 
of Pope, as may be collected from his translation, 
was to write his first thoughts in his first words, and 
gradually to amplify, decorate, rectify, and refine 
them. 

With such faculties, and such dispositions, he ex- 
celled every other writer in poetical prudence : he 
wrote in such a manner as might expose him to few 
hazards. He used almost always the same fabric 
of verse ; and, indeed, by those few essays which he 
made of any other, he did not enlarge his reputa- 
tion. Of this uniformity the certain consequence 
was readiness and dexterity. By perpetual practice, 
language had, in his mind, a systematical arrange- 
ment ; having ahvays the same use for words, he 
had words so selected and combined as to be ready 
at his call. This increase of facility he confessed 
himself to have perceived in the progress of his 
translation. 

But what was yet of more importance, his effii- 
sions were always voluntary, and his subjects chosen 
by himself. His independence secured hhn from 
drudging at a task, and laboring upon a barren topic ; 
he never exchanged praise for money, nor opened a 
shop of condolence or congratulation. His poems, 



164 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

therefore, were scarcely ever temporary. He suf- 
fered coronations and royal marriages to pass mth- 
out a song ; and derived no opportunities from recent 
events, or any popularity from the accidental dispo- 
sition of his readers. He was never reduced to the 
necessity of soliciting the sun to shine upon a birth- 
day, of calling the Graces and Virtues to a wedding, 
or of saying what multitudes have said before him. 
When he could produce nothing new, he was at lib- 
erty to be silent. 

His publications were, for the same reason, never 
hasty. He is said to have sent nothing to the press 
till it had lain two years under his inspection ; it is 
at least certain, that he ventured nothing without 
nice examination. He suffered the tumult of imag- 
ination to subside, and the novelties of invention to 
grow familiar. He knew that the mind is always 
enamored of its productions, and did not trust his 
first fondness. He consulted his friends, and listened 
with great willingness to criticism ; and, what was 
of more importance, he consulted himself, and let 
nothing pass against his own judgment. 

He professed to have learned his poetry from Dry- 
den, whom, whenever an opportunity was presented, 
he praised, through his whole life, with unvaried lib- 
erality; and, perhaps, his character may receive 
some illustration, if he be compared with his master. 

Integrity of understanding, and nicety of discern- 
ment, w^ere not allotted in a less proportion to Dry- 
den than to Pope. The rectitude of Dryden's mind 
was sufficiently shown by the dismission of his poet- 
ical prejudices, and the rejection of unnatural 
thoughts and rugged numbers. But Dryden never 
desired to apply all the judgment that he had. He 
wrote, and professed to write, merely for the people ; 
and when he pleased others, he contented himself 
He spent no time in struggles to rouse latent pow- 
ers ; he never attempted to make that better which 



EXTRACT XII. 165 

was already good, nor often to mend what he must 
know to be fanlty. He Avi'ote, as he tells us, with 
very little consideration : when occasion or necessity 
called upon him, he poured out what the present 
moment happened to supply, and, when once it had 
passed the press, ejected it from his mind ; for when 
he had no pecuniary interest, he had no further so- 
licitude. 

Pope was not content to satisfy, he desired to ex- 
cel; and therefore always endea^vored to do his best; 
he did not court the candor, but dared the judgment 
of his reader, and, expecting no indulgence from 
others, he showed none to himself. He examined 
hues and ^vords vnth minute and punctilious obser- 
vation, and retouched every part ^vith indefatigable 
diligence, till he had left nothing to be forgiven. 

For this reason he kept his pieces very long in his 
hands, while he considered and reconsidered them. 
The only poems which can be supposed to have 
been written with such regard to the times as might 
hasten their publication, were the two satires of 
" Thirty- eight," of which Dodsley told me that they 
were brought to him by the author, that they might 
be fairly copied. " Almost every line," he said, " Avas 
then written tAvice over ; I gave him a clean tran- 
script, which he sent some time afterAvard to me for 
the press, with almost eveiy hne written twice over 
a second time." 

His declaration, that his care for liis works ceased 
at their publication, was not strictly true. His pa- 
rental attention never abandoned them; what he 
found amiss in the first edition, he silently corrected 
in those that followed. He appears to have revised 
the Iliad, and freed it from some of its hiiperfec- 
tions ; and the Essay on Criticism received many 
improvements after its first appearance. It will sel- 
dom be found that he altered Avithout adding clear- 
ness, elegance, or vigor. Pope had perhaps the 



166 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

judgment of Dryclen ; but Dryden certainly wanted 
the diligence of Pope. 

In acquired knowledge, the superiority must be 
allowed to Dryden, whose education w^as more scho- 
lastic, and who, before he became an author, had 
been allowed more time for study, with better means 
of information. His mind has a larger range ; and 
he collects his images and illustrations from a more 
extensive circumference of science. Dryden knew 
more of man in his general nature, and Pope in his 
local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed 
by comprehensive speculation ; and those of Pope 
by minute attention. There is more dignity in the 
knowledge of Dryden, and more certainty in that of 
Pope. 

Poetry was not the sole praise of either ; for both 
excelled likewise in prose ; but Pope did not borrow 
his prose from his predeces. or. The style of Dry- 
den is capricious and varied ; that of Pope is cautious 
and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own 
mind ; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of 
composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and 
rapid ; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. 
Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequali- 
ties, and diversified by the varied exuberance of 
abundant vegetation ; Pope's is a velvet lawn, sha- 
ven by the scythe and levelled by the roller. 

Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet ; 
that quality without which judgment is cold, and 
knowledge is inert ; that energy which collects, com- 
bines, amplifies, and animates ; the superiority must, 
with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It is 
not to be inferred, that of this poetical vigor Pope 
had only a little, because Dryden had more; for 
every other writer since Milton must give place to 
Pope ; and even of Dryden it must be said, that, if 
he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. 
Dryden' s performances were always hasty, either ex- 



EXTRACT XIII. 167 

cited by some external occasion, or extorted by do- 
mestic necessity; he composed without considera- 
tion, and pubHshed without correction. What his 
mind could supply at call, or gather in one excursion, 
was all that he sought, and all that he gave. The 
dilatory caution of Pope enabled liim to condense 
his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accu- 
mulate all that study might produce, or chance might 
supply. If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are, 
higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of ^ 
Dryden' s fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat 
is more regular and constant. Dryden often sur- 
passes expectation, and Pope never falls below it. 
Diyden is read with frequent astonishment, and 
Pope with perpetual delight. 

The parallel ^vill, I hope, when it is well consid- 
ered, be found just ; and if the reader should sus- 
pect me, as I suspect myself, of some partial fond- 
ness for the memory of Dryden, let him not too has- 
tily condemn me ; for meditation and inquiry may, 
perhaps, show him the reasonableness of my deter- 
mination. 



EXTRACT XIII. 

Advantage of reformatory over penal Legislation, 

Goldsmith. 

It were liighly to be wished, that legislative power 
would direct the law rather to reformation than se- 
verity; that it would soon be convinced that the 
work of eradicating crimes is not by making punish? 
ment familiar, but formidable. Then, instead of our 
present prisons, which find or make men guilty, 
which enclose wretches for the commission of one 
crime, and return them, if returned ahve, fitted for 



168 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

the perpetration of thousands, — it were to be wished 
we had, as in other parts of Europe, places of peni- 
tence and soHtude, where the accused might be at- 
tended by such as could give them repentance, if 
guilty, or new motives to virtue, if innocent. And 
this, but not the increasing of punishments, is the 
way to mend a state : nor can I avoid even ques- 
tioning the validity of that right which social combi- 
nations have assumed, of capitally punisliing offen- 
ces of a slight nature. In cases of murder, their 
right is obvious ; as it is the duty of us all, from the 
law of self-defence, to cut off that man who has 
shown a disregard for the life of another. Against 
such all nature rises in arms ; but it is not so against 
him who steals my property. Natural law gives me 
no right to take away his life, as by that the horse 
he steals is as much his property as mine. If, then, 
I have any right, it must be from a compact made 
between us, that he who deprives the other of his 
horse, shall die. But this is a false compact; be- 
cause no man has a right to barter his life, no more 
than take it away, as it is not his own. And, be- 
sides, the compact is inadequate ; and it would be 
set aside, even in a court of modern equity, as there 
is a great penalty for a trifling inconvenience ; since 
it is far better that two men should live, than one 
man should ride. But a compact that is false be- 
tween two men, is equally so between a hundred 
and a hundred thousand ; for, as ten millions of cir- 
cles can never make a square, so the united voice of 
myriads cannot lend the smallest foundation to false- 
hood. It is thus that reason speaks ; and untutored 
nature says the same thing. Savages, that are di- 
^prected by natural law alone, are very tender of the 
lives of each other ; they seldom shed blood but to 
retaliate former cruelty. 

Our Saxon ancestors, fierce as they were in war, 
had but few executions in times of peace ; and in all 



EXTRACT XIII. 169 

commencing governments, that have the print of na- 
ture still strong upon them, scarce any crime is held 
capital. 

It is among the citizens of a refined community, 
that penal laws, which are in the hands of the rich, 
are laid upon the poor. Government, wliile it grows 
older, seems to acquire the moroseness of age ; and 
as if our property were become dearer in proportion 
as it increased ; as if the more enormous our wealth, 
the more extensive our fears, — all our possessions 
are paled up with new edicts every day, and hung 
round with gibbets, to scare every invader. 

I cannot tell whether it is from the number of our 
penal laws, or the licentiousness of our people, that 
this country should show more convicts in a year 
than half the dominions of Europe united. Perhaps 
it is owing to both ; for they mutually produce each 
other. When, by indiscriminate penal laws, a na- 
tion beholds the same punishment affixed to dissimi- 
lar degrees of guilt, from perceiving no distinction in 
the penalty, the people are led to lose all sense of 
distinction in the crime; yet this distinction is the 
bulwark of all morahty : thus, the multitude of laws 
produces new vices, and new vices call for fresh re- 
straints. 

It were to be wished, then, that power, instead of 
contriving new laws to punish vice, instead of draw- 
ing hard the cords of society till a convulsion came 
to burst them, instead of cutting away wretches as 
useless, before we had tried their utility, instead of 
converting correction into vengeance, — it were to 
be wished that we tried the restrictive arts of govern- 
ment, and made law the protector, but not the tyrant, 
of the people. Yv^e should then find, that creatures 
whose souls are held as dross, only wanted the hand 
of a refiner ; we should then find that wretches, now 
stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury should feel a 
momentary pang, might, if properly treated, serve 
15 



170 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

to sinew the state in times of danger ; that, as their 
faces are Hke ours, their hearts are so too ; that few 
minds are so base, as that perseverance cannot 
amend ; that a man may see his last crime without 
dying for it ; and that very httle blood will serve to 
cement our security. 



EXTRACT XIV. 

Present Suffering enhances the 2orospect of future Feli- 
city, 

Goldsmith. 

When I reflect on the distribution of good and 
evil here below, I find that much has been given to 
man to enjoy, yet still more to suffer. Though we 
should examine the whole world, we shall not find 
one man so happy as to have nothing left to wish 
for; but we daily see thousands who, by suicide, 
show us they have nothing left to hope. In this life, 
then, it appears that we cannot be entirely blest; 
but yet we may be completely miserable. 

Why man should thus feel pain ; why our wretch- 
edness should be requisite in the formation of uni- 
versal felicity; why, when all other systems are made 
perfect by the perfection of their subordinate parts, 
the great system should require for its perfection, 
parts that are not only subordinate to others, but im- 
perfect in themselves, — these are questions that 
never can be explained, and might be useless if 
known. On this subject Providence has thought fit 
to elude our curiosity, satisfied with granting us mo- 
tives to consolation. 

In this situation, man has called in the friendly 
assistance of philosophy; and Heaven, seeing the 
incapacity of that to console him, has given him the 



EXTRACT XIV. 171 

aid of religion. The consolations of philosophy are 
very amusing, but often fallacious. It tells us, that 
life is filled with comforts, if we \vill but enjoy them ; 
and, on the other hand, that, though we unavoidably 
have miseries here, life is short, and they will soon 
be over. Thus do these consolations destroy each 
other : for if life is a place of comfort, its shortness 
must be misery; and if it be long, our giiefs are 
protracted. Thus, philosophy is weak ; but religion 
comforts in a higher strain. Man is here, it tells us, 
fitting up his mind, and preparing it for another abode. 
When the good man leaves the body, and is all a 
glorious mind, he will find he has been making him- 
self a heaven of happiness here ; while the wi'etch 
that has been maimed and contaminated by his vices, 
shrinks from his body -with terror, and finds that he 
has anticipated the vengeance of Heaven. To reli- 
gion, then, we must hold in every circumstance of 
life, for our truest comfort: for if already we are 
happy, it is a pleasure to think that we can make 
that happiness unending ; and, if we are miserable, 
it is very consoling to think that there is a place of 
rest. Thus, to the fortunate, religion holds out a 
continuance of bliss ; to the wretched, a change from 
pain. 

But though religion is very kind to all men, it has 
promised peculiar rewards to the unhappy : the sick, 
the naked, the houseless, the heavy-laden, and the 
prisoner, has ever most frequent promises in our 
sacred law. The Author of our religion everywhere 
professes himself the \vi'etch's friend; and, unlike 
the false ones of this world, bestows all his caresses 
upon the forlorn. The unthinking have censured 
this as partiality, as a preference without merit to 
deserve it. But they never reflect, that it is not in 
the power, even of Heaven itself, to make the offer 
of unceasing felicity as great a gift to the happy as 
to the miserable. To the first, eternity is but a single 



172 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

blessing ; since, at most, it but increases what tliey 
already possess. To the latter, it is a double advan- 
tage ; for it diminishes their 'pain here, and rewards 
them with heavenly bliss hereafter. 

But Providence is, in another respect, kinder to 
the poor than to the rich; for, as it thus makes the 
life after death more desirable, so it smooths the 
passage there. The wretched have had a long fami- 
liarity with every face of terror. The man of sorrow 
lays himself quietly down, with no possessions to re- 
gret, and but fcAV ties to stop his departure ; he feels 
only nature's pang in the final separation, and this is 
no way greater than he has often fainted under be- 
fore ; for, after a certain degree of pain, every new 
breach that death opens in the constitution, nature 
kindly covers with insensibility. 

Thus, Providence has given to the wretched two 
advantages over the happy in this life, — greater fe- 
licity in dying, and, in heaven, all that superiority of 
pleasure which arises from contrasted enjoyment. 
And tliis superiority is no small advantage, and seems 
to be one of the pleasures of the poor man in the 
parable ; for though he was already in heaven, and 
felt all the raptures it could give, yet it was men- 
tioned, as an addition to his happiness, that he had 
once been wretched, and now was comforted ; that 
he had known what it was to be miserable, and now 
felt what it was to be happy. 

Thus, religion does what philosophy could never 
do : it shows the equal dealings of Pleaven to the 
happy and the unhappy, and levels all human en- 
joyments to nearly the same standard. It gives to 
both rich and poor the same happiness hereafter, 
and equal hopes to aspire after it; but, if the rich 
have the advantage of enjoying pleasure here, the 
poor have the endless satisfaction of knowing what 
it was once to be miserable, when crowned with 
endless felicity hereafter; and, even though this 



EXTRACT XV. 173 

sliould be called a small advantage, yet, being an 
eternal one, it must make up, by duration, what the 
temporal happmess of the great may have exceeded 
by intenseness. 



EXTRACT XV. 

True Kespectdbility . Benjamin Franklin. 

It is said that the Persians, in their ancient con- 
stitution, had public schools, in which virtue was 
taught as a liberal art or science ; and it is certainly 
of more consequence to a man, that he has learned 
to govern his passions; — in spite of temptation, to 
be just in his dealings ; to be temperate in his pleas- 
ures ; to support himself with fortitude under his 
misfortunes ; to behave with prudence in all his af- 
fairs, and in every circumstance of life : — I say it is 
of much more real advantage to him, to be thus 
qualified, than to be a master of all the arts and sci- 
ences in the world. — Virtue alone is sufficient to 
make a man great, glorious, and happy. 

He that is acquainted with Cato, as I am, cannot 
help tliinking as I do now, and will acknowledge he 
deserves the name, without being honored by it. 
Cato is a man whom fortune has placed in the most 
obscure part of the country. His circumstances are 
such as only put him above necessity, without af- 
fording him many superfluities : yet who is greater 
than Cato? 

I happened, but the other day, to be at a house in 
town, where, among others, were met men of the 
most note in tliis place. Cato had business with 
some of them, and knocked at the door. The most 
trifling actions of a man, in my opinion, as well as 
the smallest features and lineaments of the face, 
15^ 



174 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

give a nice observer some notion of his mind. Me- 
thouglit, lie rapped in such a peculiar manner as 
seemed, of itself, to express there was one who de- 
served as well as desired admission. He appeared 
in the plainest country garb : his great- coat was 
coarse, and looked old and threadbare ; his linen was 
homespun ; his beard, perhaps, of seven days' 
growth ; his shoes thick and heavy ; and every part 
of his dress corresponding. 

Why was this man received with such concurring 
respect from every person in the room, even from 
those who had never known or seen him before ? It 
was not an exquisite form of person, or grandeur of 
dress, that struck us with admiration. I believe 
long habits of virtue have a sensible effect on the 
countenance. There was something in the air of his 
face, that manifested the true greatness of his mind; 
which likewise appeared in all he said, and in every 
part of his behavior, obliging us to regard him with a 
land of veneration. 

His aspect is sweetened with humanity and be- 
nevolence, and, at the same time, emboldened with 
resolution, equally free from diffident bashfulness 
and an unbecoming assurance. The consciousness 
of his own innate, worth and unshaken integrity, ren- 
d«.ers him calm and undaunted in presence of the 
greatest and most powerful, and upon the most ex- 
traordinary occasions. His strict justice and known 
impartiality make him the arbitrator and decider of 
all differences that arise, for many miles around him, 
without putting his neighbors to the charge, perplex- 
ity, and uncertainty of lawsuits. 

He always speaks the thing he means, which he 
is never afraid or ashamed to do, because he always 
knows he means v/ell, and therefore is never obliged 
to blush, and feel the confusion of finding himself 
detected in the meanness of a falsehood. He never 
contrives ill against his neighbor, and therefore is 



EXTRACT XV. 175 

never seen with a lowering, suspicious aspect. A 
mixture of innocence and wisdom makes liim ever 
seriously cheerful. His generous hospitality to 
strangers, according to his ability, his goodness, his 
charity, his courage in the cause of the oppressed, 
his fidelity in friendship, his humility, his honesty 
and sincerity, his moderation, his lo^^alty to the gov- 
ernment, his piety, his temperance, his love to man- 
Idnd, his magnanimity, his public spiritedness, and, 
in fine, liis consummate vhtue, make him justly de- 
serve to be esteemed the glory of his country. 

Almost every man has a strong natural desire of 
being valued and esteemed by the rest of his spe- 
cies. But I am concerned and grieved to see how 
few fall into the right and only infallible method of 
becommg so. That laudable ambition is too com- 
monly misapplied, and often ill employed. Some, to 
make themselves considerable, pursue learning; 
others grasp at wealth ; some aim at being thought 
v/itty ; and others are only careful to make the most 
of a handsome person. But what is wit, or wealth, 
or form, or learning, when compared with virtue ? 

It is true we love the handsome, we' applaud the 
learned, and we fear the rich and pov/erful ; but we 
even worsliip and adore the virtuous. Nor is it 
strange ; since men of vhtue are so rare, — so very 
rare to be found. If we were as industrious to be- 
come good, as to make ourselves great, we should 
become really great by bemg good ; and the number 
of valuable men would be much increased. But it 
is a grand mistake to think of being great without 
goodness ; and I pronounce it as certain, that there 
was never yet a truly great man that was not, at the 
same tune, truly virtuous. 



176 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

EXTRACT XVI. 

Ridicule, Benjamin Franklin. 

Rocliefoucauld tells us, somewliere in his Me- 
; moirs, that the prince of Conde dehghted much in 
ridicule, and used frequently to shut himself up, for 
half a day together, in his chamber, with a gentle- 
man who was his favorite, purposely to divert him- 
self with examining what was the foible, or ridicu- 
lous side, of every noted person in the court. That 
gentleman said, afterwards, in some company, that 
he thought nothing was more ridiculous in anybody, 
than this same humor in the prince ; and I am some- 
what inclined to be of this opinion. 

The general tendency there is among us to this 
embellishment, (which I fear has too often imposed 
upon my loving countrymen, instead of wit,) and the 
applause it meets with from a rising generation, fill 
me with fearful apprehensions for the future reputa- 
tion of my country. A young man of modesty, 
(which is the most certain indication of large capaci- 
ties,) is hereby discouraged from attempting to make 
any figure in life. His apprehension of being out- 
laughed, will force him to continue in a restless ob- 
scurity, without having an opportunity of knowing 
his own merit himself, or discovering it to the world, 
rather than venture to expose himself in a place 
where a pun or a sneer shall pass for wit, noise for 
reason, and the strength of the argument be judged 
of by that of the lungs. 

Among these witty gentlemen let us take a view 
of Ridentius. What a contemptible figure does he 
make with his train of paltry admirers I This wight 
shall give himself an hour's diversion with the cock 
of a man's hat, the heels of his shoes, an unguarded 
expression in his discourse, or even some personal 



EXTRACT XVII. 177 

defect ; and the height of his low ambition is to put 
some one of the comj)any to the bhish, who perhaps 
must pay an equal share of the reckoning with him- 
self 

If such a fellow makes laughing the sole end and 
purpose of his hfe, if it is necessary to his constitu- 
tion, or if he has a great desire of growing suddenly 
fat, let him eat : let him give public notice where 
any dull, stupid rogues may get a quart of fourpenny 
for being laughed at. But it is barbarously unhand- 
some, when friends meet for the benefit of conversa- 
tion, and a proper relaxation from business, that one 
should be the butt of the company, and four men 
made merry at the cost of the fifth. 

How different from tliis character is that of the 
good-natured, gay Eugenius, w4io never spoke yet 
but with a design to divert and please ; and who was 
never yet balked in his intention I Eugenius takes 
more dehght in applying the wit of his friends, than 
in being admired liimself ; and if any one of the 
company is so unfortunate as to be touched a little 
too nearly, he will make use of some ingenious arti- 
fice to turn the edge of ridicule another way ; choos- 
ing rather to make himself a public jest, than be at 
the pain of seeing liis friend in confusion. 



EXTRACT XVII. 

The Ugly Leg. Benjamin Franklin. 

There are two sorts of people in the world, who, 
■with, equal degrees of health and wealth, and the 
other comforts of life, become, the one happy, and 
the other miserable. This arises very much from 
the different views in v/hich they consider things, 



178 SUBJECTS FOE, EXERCISES. 

persons, and events ; and the effect of tliose differ- 
ent vie^vs upon their own mind. 

In whatever situation men can be placed, they 
may find conveniences and inconveniences : in what- 
ever company, they may find persons and conversa- 
tion more or less pleasing ; at whatever table, they 
may meet with meats and drinks of better and worse 
taste, dishes better and worse dressed ; in whatever 
climate, they will find good and bad weather ; under 
whatever government, they may find good and bad 
laws, and good and bad administration of those laws ; 
in whatever poem, or work of genius, they may see 
faults and beauties ; in almost every face, and every 
person, they may discover fine features and defects, 
good and bad qualities. 

Under these circumstances, the two sorts of people 
above mentioned fix their attention ; those who are 
disposed to be happy, on the conveniences of things, 
the pleasant parts of conversation, the well-dressed 
dishes, the goodness of the wines, or the fine weath- 
er, and enjoy all with cheerfulness. Those who are 
to be unappy, think and speak only of the contraries. 
Hence they are continually discontented themselves, 
and, by their remarks, sour the pleasures of society, 
offend personally many people, and make themselves 
everywhere disagreeable. 

If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such 
unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. 
But as the disposition to criticise, and to be disgust- 
ed, is perhaps, taken up originally by imitation, and 
is, unawares, grown into a habit, which, though at 
present strong, may nevertheless be cured, when 
those who have it are convinced of its bad effects on 
their felicity; I hope this little admonition may be 
of service to them, and put them on changing a 
habit, which though, in the exercise, it is chiefly an 
act of imagination, yet has serious consequences in 
life, as it brings on real griefs and misfortunes. For, 



EXTRACT XVII. 179 

as many are offended by, and nobody loves, this sort 
of people, no one shows them more than the most 
common civility and respect, and scarcely that ; and 
this frequently puts them out of humor, and draws 
them into disputes and contentions. 

If they aim at attaining some advantage in rank 
or fortune, nobody wishes them success, or will stir 
a step or speak a word, to favor their pretensions. 
If they incur public censure or disgrace, no one will 
defend or excuse, and many join to aggravate their 
misconduct, and render them completely odious. If 
these people will not change this bad habit, and con- 
descend to be pleased with what is pleasing, with- 
out fretting themselves and others about the contra- 
ries, it is good for others to avoid an acquaintance 
with them, which is always disagreeable, and some- 
times very inconvenient, especially when one finds 
oneself entangled in their quarrels. 

An old philosophical friend of mine was grown, 
from experience, very cautious in this particular, and 
carefully avoided any intimacy with such people. 
He had, like other philosophers, a thermometer, to 
show him the heat of the weather, and a barometer, 
to mark when it was likely to prove good or bad; 
but there being no instrument invented to discover, 
at first sight, tliis unpleasing disposition in a person, 
he, for that purpose, made use of his legs ; one of 
which was remarkably handsome, the other, by some 
accident, crooked and deformed. If a stranger, at 
the fii'st interview, regarded his ugly leg more than 
his handsome one, he doubted him. If he spoke of 
it, and took no notice of the handsome leg, that was 
sufficient to determme my philosopher to have no 
farther acquaintance with him. 

Every body has not this two-legged instrument; 
but every one, with a little attention, may observe 
signs of that carping, fault-finding disposition, and 
take the same resolution of avoiding the acquaint- 



180 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

ance of those infected with it. I therefore advise 
those critical, querulous, discontented, unhappy peo- 
ple, that, if they wish to be respected and beloved 
by others, and happy in themselves, they should 
leave off looking at the ugly leg. 



EXTRACT XVIII 

Luxury, Idleness, and Industry. Franklin. 

It is wonderful how preposterously the affairs of 
this world are managed. Naturally one would ima- 
gine that the interest of a few individuals should 
give way to general interest. But individuals man- 
age their affairs with so much more application, in- 
dustry, and address, than the public do theirs, that 
general interest most commonly gives way to parti- 
cular. 

We assemble parliaments and councils, to have 
the benefit of their collected wisdom ; but we neces- 
sarily have, at the same time, the inconvenience of 
their collected passions, prejudices, and private in- 
terests. By the help of these, artful men overpower 
their wisdom, and dupe its possessors ; and, if we 
may judge by the acts, arrests, and edicts, all the 
world over, for regulating commerce, an assembly of 
great men is the greatest fool upon earth. 

I have not yet, indeed, thought of a remedy for 
luxury. I am not sure that, in a great state, it is 
capable of a remedy, nor that the evil is in itself al- 
ways so great as it is represented. Suppose we in- 
clude, in the definition of luxury, all unnecessary ex- 
pense ; and then let us consider whether laws to 
prevent such expense are possible to be executed in 
a great country, and whether, if they could be exe- 
cuted, our people generally would be happier, or even 



EXTRACT XVIII. 181 

richer. Is not the hope of being, one day, able to 
purchase and enjoy hixuries, a great spur to labor 
and industry? May not luxury, therefore, produce 
more than it consumes, if, without such a spur, peo- 
ple would be, as they are naturally enough inclined 
to be, lazy and indolent ? 

In our commercial towns upon the seacoast, for- 
tunes will occasionally be made. Some of those who 
grow rich, will be prudent, live within bounds, and 
preserv^e what they have gained for their posterity : 
others, fond of showing their wealth, Avill be extra- 
vagant, and ruin themselves. Laws cannot prevent 
this ; and, perhaps, it is not alwa^^s an evil to the 
pubhc. A shilling spent idly by a fool, may be pick- 
ed up by a wise person who knows better what to 
do with it. It is therefore not lost. A vam, silly 
fellow builds a fine house, furnishes it richly, lives 
in it expensively, and, in a few years, ruins himself. 
But the masons, carpenters, smiths, and other honest 
tradesmen, have been, by liis employ, assisted in 
maintaining and raising their families ; the farmer 
has been paid for his labor, and encouraged ; and the 
estate is now in better hands. 

In some cases, indeed, certain modes of luxury 
may be a pubhc evil, in the same manner as it is a 
private one. If there be, for instance, a nation that 
exports its beef and linen, to pay for the importation 
of claret and porter, wliile a great part of its people 
live upon potatoes, and wear no shirts, wherein does 
it differ from the sot who lets his family starve, and 
sells his clothes to buy drink? Our American com- 
merce is, I confess, a little in tliis way. We sell 
our victuals to the islands for rum and sugar, — the 
substantial necessaries of hfe for superfluities. But 
we have plenty, and live well nevertheless ; though, 
by being soberer, we might be richer. 

The vast quantity of forest land we have yet to 
clear, and put in order for cultivation, wiU, for a long 
16 



182 SUBJECTS FOR EXEHCISES. 

time, keep the body of our nation laborious and fru- 
gal. Forming an opinion of our people and their 
manners, by what we have seen among the inhabit- 
ants of the seaports, is judging from an improper 
sample. The people of the trading towns may be 
rich and luxurious, while the country possesses all 
the virtues that tend to promote happiness and pub- 
lic prosperity. Those towns are not much regarded 
by the country; they are hardly considered as an 
essential part of the States ; and the experience of 
the last war has shown that their being in possession 
of the enemy did not necessarily draw on the sub- 
jection of the country, which bravely continued to 
maintain its freedom and independence, notwith- 
standing. 

It has been computed by some political arithmeti- 
cian, that if every man and woman would work for 
four hours, each day, on something useful, that labor 
would produce sufficient to procure all the neces- 
saries and comforts of hfe ; want and misery would 
be banished out of the world ; and the rest of the 
twenty-four hours might be leisure and pleasure. 

What occasions, then, so much want and misery ? 
It is the employment of men and women in works 
that produce neither the necessaries nor the conve- 
niences of life, — who, with them who do nothing, 
consume necessaries raised by the laborious. 

To explain this. — The first elements of wealth 
are obtained by labor, from the earth and waters. I 
have land, and raise corn. With tliis if I feed a 
family that does nothing, my corn will be consumed, 
and, at the end of the year, I shall be no richer than 
I was at the beginning. But if, while I feed them, 
I employ them, some in spinning, others in making 
bricks, etc., for building, the value of my corn will 
be arrested, and remain with me; and, at the end 
of the year, we may all be better clothed and better 
lodged. And if, instead of employing a man whom 



EXTRACT XVIII. 183 

I feed, in making bricks, I employ him in fiddling 
for me, the corn he eats is gone ; and no part of his 
manufacture remains to augment the wealth and 
convenience of the family. I shall therefore be the 
poorer for this fiddling man, unless the rest of my 
family work more or eat less, to make up the defi- 
ciency he occasions. 

Look round the world, and see the millions em- 
ployed in doing nothing, or in something that 
amounts to notliing, when the necessaries and con- 
veniences of life are in question. What is the bulk 
of commerce, for which we fight and destroy each 
other, but the toil of millions for superfluities, to the 
great hazard and loss of many lives, by the constant 
dangers of the sea ? How much labor is spent in 
building and fitting great ships, to go to China and 
Arabia, for tea and coflee, to the West Indies for 
sugar, to America for tobacco ! These things can- 
not be called the necessaries of life ; for our ances- 
tors lived very comfortably without them. 

A question may be asked ; could all these people 
now employed in raising, making, or carrying super- 
fluities, be subsisted by raising necessaries ? I think 
they might. The world is large, and a great part of 
it still uncultivated. Many hundred millions of acres 
in Asia, Africa, and America, are still in a forest; 
and a great deal even in Europe. On a hundred 
acres of this forest a man might become a substan- 
tial farmer ; and a hundred thousand men, employed 
in clearing each his hundred acres, would hardly 
brighten a spot big enough to be visible from the 
moon, unless with Herschel's telescope ; so vast are 
the regions still in wood. 

It is, however, some comfort to reflect, that, upon 
the whole, the quantity of industry and prudence 
among mankind exceeds the quantity of idleness and 
folly. Hence the increase of good buildings, farms 
cultivated, and populous cities filled with wealth, all 



184 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

over Europe, which, a few ages since, were only to 
be found on the coasts of the Mediterranean ; and 
this notwithstanding the mad wars continually rag- 
ing, by which are often destroyed, in one year, the 
works of many years' peace ; so that we may hope 
the luxury of a few merchants on the coast will not 
be the ruin of America. 

One reflection more, and I will end this long ram- 
bling paper. — Almost all parts of our bodies require 
some expense ; the feet demand shoes ; the legs, 
stockings; the rest of the body clothing; and the 
stomach a good deal of victuals. Our eyes, though 
exceedingly useful, ask, when reasonable, only the 
cheap assistance of spectacles, which could not 
much impair our finances. But the eyes of other 
people are the eyes that ruin us. If all but myself 
were blind, I should want neither fine clothes, fine 
houses, nor fine furniture. 



EXTEACT XIX. 

The Influence ofprofessional Associations, on the sense 
of Beauty. Hev. Dr. Alison. 

No man, in general, is sensible to beauty in those 
subjects with regard to which he has not previous 
ideas. The beauty of a theory, or of a relic of anti- 
quity, is unintelligible to a peasant. The charms of 
the country are altogether lost upon a citizen who 
has passed his life in town. In the same manner, 
the more that our ideas are increased, or our concep- 
tions extended, upon any subject, the greater the 
number of associations we connect v/ith it, the stron- 
ger is the emotion of sublimity or beauty we receive 
from it. 

The pleasure, for instance, which the generality 



EXTRACT XIX. 185 

of mankind receive from any celebrated painting, is 
trifling, when compared to that which a painter feels, 
if he is a man of any common degree of candor. 
What is to them only an accurate representation of 
nature, is to him a beautiful exertion of genius, and 
a perfect display of art. The difficulties which occur 
to his mind in the design and execution of such a 
23erformance, and the testimonies of skill, of taste, 
and of invention, which the accomphshment of it 
exhibits, excite a variety of emotions in his breast, 
of which the common spectator is altogether unsus- 
ceptible ; and the admiration with which he thus 
contemplates the genius and art of the painter, blends 
itself with the peculiar emotions which the picture 
itself can produce, and enhances to him every beau- 
ty that it may possess. 

The beauty of any scene hi nature, is seldom so 
striking to others as it is to a landscape-painter, or 
to those who profess the beautiful art of laying out 
grounds. The difficulties both of invention and exe- 
cution, which from their professions are familiar to 
them, render the profusion mth which nature often 
scatters the most picturesque beauties, Uttle less than 
miraculous. Every little circumstance of form and 
perspective, and light and shade, which is unnoticed 
by a common eye, is important in theirs, and, ming- 
Ung in their minds the ideas of difficulty and facility 
n overcoming it, produces altogether an emotion of 
delight, incomparably more animated than any that 
che generality of mankind usually derive from it. 

The delight which most men of education receive 
from the consideration of antiquity, and the beauty 
that they discover in every object Avhich is connect- 
ed with ancient times, is, in a great measure, to be 
ascribed to the same cause. The antiquarian, in his 
cabinet, surrounded by the relics of former ages, 
seems to himself to be removed to periods that are 
long since past, and indulges in the imagination of 
16^ 



186 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

living in a world which, by a very natural kind of 
prejudice, we are always wilHng to beheve was both 
wiser and better than the present. All that is vene- 
rable or laudable in the history of those times, pre- 
sents itself to his memory. The gallantry, the hero- 
ism, the patriotism of antiquity, rise again before his 
view, softened by the obscurity in which they are 
involved, and rendered more seducing to the imagi- 
nation by that obscurity itself, which, while it mingles 
a sentiment of regret amid his pursuits, serves, at 
the same time, to stimulate his fancy to fill up, by its 
own creation, those long intervals of time of which 
history has preserved no record. The relics he con- 
templates seem to approach him still nearer to the 
ages of his regard. The dress, the furniture, the 
arms of the times, are so many assistances to his 
imagination, in guiding or directing its exercise, and, 
offering him a thousand sources of imagery, provide 
him with an almost inexhaustible field in which his 
memory and his fancy may expatiate. There are 
few men who have not felt somewhat, at least, of 
the delight of such an employment. There is no 
man in the least acquainted with the history of anti- 
quity, who does not love to let his imagination loose 
on the prospect of its remains, and to whom they are 
not, in some measure, sacred, from the innumerable 
images which they bring. Even the peasant, whose 
knowledge of former times .extends but to a few 
generations, has yet, in his village, some monument 
of the deeds or virtues of his forefathers ; and cher- 
ishes with a fond veneration the memorial of those 
good old times to which his imagination returns with 
delight, and of "which he loves to recount the simple 
tales that tradition has brought him. 

And what is it that constitutes that emotion of 
sublime delight, which every man of common sensi- 
bility feels upon the first prospect of Kome ? It is 
not the scene of destruction which is before him. 



EXTRACT XX. 187 

It is not the Tiber, climinislied in his imagination to 
a pahry stream, and stagnating amid the ruins of 
that magnificence which it once adorned. It is not 
the triumph of superstition over the wreck of human 
greatness, and its monuments erected upon the very 
spot where the first honors of humanity have been 
gained. It is ancient Home which fills liis imagina- 
tion. It is the country of Cassar, and Cicero, and 
Virgil, Avhich is before him. It is the mistress of the 
world which he sees, and who seems to him to rise 
again from her tomb, to give laws to the universe. 
All that the labors of his youth, or the studies of his 
maturer age have acquired, with regard to the his- 
tory of this great people, opens at once before his 
imagination, and presents him with a field of high 
and solemn imagery, which can never be exhausted. 
Take from him these associations, conceal from liim 
that it is E-ome that he sees, and how different would 
be liis emotion ! 



EXTRACT XX. 

The Beauty of the Human Form. Rev. De. Alison. 

The human form is not a simple form. It is a 
complicated frame composed of many parts, in which 
some relation of these parts is required by every eye, 
and from which relation, beauty or deformity is the 
actual and experienced result. If the positive beau- 
ty of the human form arises, in all various and differ- 
ent cases, from its expression of character of mind, 
then it ought to follow, that the beauty of composi- 
tion in this complicated form, ought, as in all other 
cases of composition, to arise from the preservation 
of unity of character ; that no forms or proportions 
ought to be felt as beautiful, but those which accord 



188 SUBJECTS FOU EXERCISES. 

with this central expression, and that different forms 
and different proportions ought to be felt as beauti- 
ful, whenever they are significant of the characters 
w^e wish and expect. — If these are found to be 
• facts, I apprehend it will not only be sufficient to 
show the real origin of the beauty of form, but to es- 
tablish some more definite conceptions, with regard 
to the nature of the beauty we experience in these 
relations of the parts of the human form. 

That the beauty of composition in the form of 
man, is determined by this unity of character or ex- 
pression, or, in other words, that the principle by 
which we judge of the beauty of any member or 
members of the form, is that of their correspondence 
to the general expression, is a proposition which 
seems very consistent with common experience. 
Every form which we remark for beauty, has always 
some specific character which is the foundation of 
our admiration. It is either manly, or gallant, or ma- 
jestic, or dignified ; or feminine, or gentle, or modest, 
or delicate : as such we feel, and as such we describe 
it. It seldom happens, however, in actual life, that 
any form of tliis kind appears to us in which we are 
not conscious of some defect, — of some limb or 
member being unsuitable to the rest, and affecting 
us with some sense of pain or dissatisfaction. If we 
ask ourselves what is the reason of our disapproba- 
tion, or if we attend to the language of others, we 
shall find, I think, that it is always resolvable into 
the want of correspondent expression, and that the 
imaginary attempts we make to rectify it, consist in 
new-modelling the faulty members, so as to accord 
with this expression. It is painful to us, thus, to see 
a form of general delicacy with any strong muscular 
limb, to see a bust of manliness or strength, "with 
limbs either short or attenuated, or limbs of great 
strength and vigor, with a thin and hectic form of 
body. In representations of the form of woman, it 



EXTRACT XX. 189 

is, in the same manner, painful to obsei-ve any limb 
of masculine size or strength ; and so delicate is even 
the rudest feeling upon this subject, that the form 
of a foot, or of a finger, can detract from the most 
perfect beauty. When we have the misfortune to 
witness any defect of this kind, we wish, — and per- 
haps we express our wishes, — to remedy it; and 
what is the object of our wishes? Is it not to re- 
duce the too powerful, or to increase the too atten- 
uated limb to the general character of the form, to 
maintain throughout it that unity of expression which 
is necessary to our complete emotion ; and if, either 
in idea or in imitation, we can succeed in these wish- 
es, do we not feel, ourselves, and teach others to 
feel, the full effect of that beautiful form which na- 
ture or art has left imperfect ? Is it not consistent, 
in the same manner, with general experience, that, 
in describing a beautiful form to those who have not 
seen it, we always begin by stating the character 
which it signifies ; and, if we end by asserting that 
ail the various members of the form correspond in 
maintaining this characteristic expression, do we not 
succeed in convincing them that the form is beauti- 
ful, and that its composition is as perfect as its ex- 
pression ? 

The standard, I believe, by which we cliiefly esti- 
mate the general character of the form, is that of the 
expression of the countenance. We very seldom, I 
apprehend, pretend to judge of the beauty of the form 
of any person, whose countenance we have not seen. 
Of a mutilated statue of which the head was lost, 
we might speak securely of the propriety of its mere 
physical proportions, but I think we should not speak 
with equal security of the beauty of the composition 
of its members. Li studying any of the greater forms 
of statuary or painting, I conceive, in the same man- 
ner, that we shall feel in ourselves, and that we may 
observe in others, that our eye is perpetually moving 



190 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

from the count enance to the form ; that until we feel 
distinctly the character which the countenance ex- 
presses, we are at a loss to conceive the meaning of 
the composition; and that when we do feel it, we 
then immediately conceive that we are in possession 
of the key by wliich the form and the proportion of 
every member is to be estimated. The moment, 
either in the observation of nature or of the arts of 
imitation, that we feel the countenance to be ex- 
pressive of character, we instantly expect and look 
for a unity in the composition of every member of 
the form. The most insignificant portions of the 
frame, seem then to arise into meaning and conse- 
quence ; vie demand that all of these should contri- 
bute, by the nature of their character, to the general 
character of the countenance ; and if any of them 
are defective, we lament either over the accidents 
of nature, or the incapacity of the artist. Were we 
to state to any person, that a statue had all the pro- 
portions which the assiduity of technical taste had 
ascertained, that every limb was fashioned accord- 
ing to the most approved rule, and the whole com- 
posed of the most perfect individual members, the 
impression, I think, we should leave upon him, would 
be, that it was a work of consummate art, and that 
the labor of the artist was deserving of much re- 
ward. Were we, on the other hand, to state to him 
that this statue had some great or interesting cha- 
racter, that the countenance expressed some heroic 
or some amiable passion, and that every limb and 
every line of the form was in full correspondence 
with this expression, I apprehend we should give 
him the conviction, that the statue was a master- 
piece of genius, and that no language of enthusiasm 
was superior to its deserts. 



EXTRACT XXI. 191 

EXTRACT XXL 

Autumnal Reflections, Washington Irving. 

It is either my good fortune or misliap to be keen- 
ly susceptible to the influence of the atmosphere; 
and I can feel in the morning, before I open my , 
windoAV, whether the wmd is easterly. It will not, 
therefore, I presume, be considered an extravagant! 
instance of vain-glory, when I assert, that there are^ 
few men who can discriminate more accurately in 
the different varieties of damps, fogs, Scotch mists, 
and north-east storms, than myself. To the great 
discredit of my philosophy, I confess, I seldom fail 
to anathematize and excommunicate the weather, 
w^lien it sports too rudely with my sensitive system ; 
but then I always endeavor to atone therefor, by eu- 
logizing it, when deserving of approbation. And, as 
most of my readers, (simple folks!) make but one 
distinction, to Avit, rain and sunshine, — living in most 
honest ignorance of the various nice shades which 
distinguish one fuie day from another, — I take the 
trouble, from tune to time, of letting them into some 
of the secrets of nature ; — so will they be the better 
enabled to enjoy her beauties, with the zest of con- 
noisseurs, and derive, at least, as much information 
from my pages, as from the weather-wise lore of the 
almanac. 

Much of my recreation, has consisted in making 
little excursions tln'ough my neighborhood, which 
abounds in the variety of wild, romantic, and luxuri- 
ant landscape, that generally characterises the scen- 
ery in the vicinity of our rivers. There is not an 
eminence \\dthiii a circuit of many miles but com- 
mands an extensive range of diversified and en- 
chanting prospect. 

Often have I rambled to the summit of some fa- 



192 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

vorite hill, and, thence, with feehngs sweetly tran- 
quil as the lucid expanse of the heavens that cano- 
pied me, have noted the slow and almost impercepti- 
ble changes that mark the waning year. There are 
many features peculiar to our autumn, and v/hich 
give it an individual character : the " green and yel- 
low melancholy," that first steals over the landscape, 
— the mild and steady serenity of the weather, and 
the transparent purity of the atmosphere, speak, not 
merely to the senses but the heart; — it is the sea- 
son of liberal emotions. To this succeeds fantastic 
gayety, a motley dress, which the woods assume, 
where green and yellow, orange, purple, crimson, 
and scarlet, are whimsically blended together. — A 
sicldy splendor this ! — like the wild and broken- 
hearted gayety that sometimes precedes dissolution, 
or that childish sportiveness of superannuated age, 
proceeding, not from a vigorous flow of animal spir- 
its, but from the decay and imbecility of the mind. 

We might, perhaps, be deceived by this gaudy 
garb of nature, were it not for the rustling of the 
falling leaf, w'hich, breaking on the stillness of the 
scene, seems to announce, in prophetic wliispers, the 
dreary winter that is approaching. When I have 
sometimes seen a thrifty young oak changing its hue 
of sturdy vigor for a bright, but transient glow of red, 
it has recalled to my mind the treacherous bloom 
that once mantled the cheek of a friend who is now 
no more ; and which, while it seemed to promise a 
long life of jocund spirits, was the sure precursor of 
premature decay. 

A little while, and this ostentatious foliage disap- 
pears: — the close of autumn leaves but one wide 
expanse of dusky brown, save where some rivulet 
steals along, bordered with little strips of green 
grass ; — the woodland echoes no more to the carols 
of the feathered tribes that sported in the leafy co- 
vert; and its solitude and silence is uninterrupted, 



EXTRACT XXI. 193 

except by the plaintive whistle of the quail, the 
barking of the squirrel, or the still more melancholy 
wintry wind, wliich rushing and swelling through 
the hollows of the mountams, sighs through the leaf- 
less branches of the grove, and seems to mourn the 
desolation of the year. 

To one who, like myself, is fond of drawing com- 
parisons between the different divisions of life, and 
those of the seasons, there ^vill appear a striking an- 
alogy which connects the feelings of age with the 
dechne of the year. Often as I contemplate the 
mild, uniform, and genial lustre with which the sun 
cheers and invigorates us in the month of October, 
and the almost imperceptible haze which, without 
obscuring, tempers all the asperities of the land- 
scape, and gives to every object a character of still- 
ness and repose, I cannot help comparing it with 
that portion of existence, when the spring of youth- 
ful hope, and the summer of the passions having 
gone by, reason assumes an undisputed sway, and 
Hghts us on with bright, but undazzhng lustre, adown 
the hill of life. There is a full and mature luxuri- 
ance in the fields, that fills the bosom with generous 
and disinterested content. It is not the thoughtless 
extravagance of spring, prodigal only in blossoms, 
nor the languid voluptuousness of summer, feverish 
in its enjoyments, and teeming only with immature 
abundance ; — it is that certain fruition of the labors 
of the past, — that prospect of comfortable reahties 
which those will be sure to enjoy who have improv- 
ed the bounteous smiles of heaven, nor wasted away 
their spring and summer in empty trifling or criminal 
indulgence. 



17 



194 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

EXTRACT XXII 

Female Character. Washington Irving. 

Modern philosophers may determine the proper 
destination of the sex ; — they may assign to them 
an extensive and brilhant orbit, in which to revolve, 
to the delight of the million, and the confusion of 
man's superior intellect; but; on this subject, we dis- 
claim philosophy, and appeal to the higher tribunal 
of the heart : — and what heart that has not lost its 
better feelings, would ever seek to repose its happi- 
ness on the bosom of one, whose pleasures all lay 
without the threshold of home, — who snatched en- 
joyment only in the whirlpool of dissipation, and 
amid the thoughtless and evanescent gayety of a 
baU-room ? The fair one who is forever in the ca- 
reer of amusement, may, for a while, dazzle, aston- 
ish, and entertain ; but we are content with coldly 
admiring, and fondly turn from glitter and noise, to 
seek the happy fireside of social life, there to confide 
our dearest and best affections. 

Yet some there are, who mingle freely with the 
world, unsullied by its contaminations ; — whose bril- 
liant minds, like the stars of the firmament, are des- 
tined to shed their light abroad, and gladden every 
beholder with their radiance: — to withhold them 
from the world would be doing it injustice; — they 
are inestimable gems, wliich were never formed to 
be shut up in caskets, but to be the pride and orna- 
ment of elegant society. 

We should endeavor always to discriminate be- 
tween a female of this superior order, and the 
thoughtless votary of pleasure, who, destitute of in- 
tellectual resources, is servilely dependent on others 
for every little pittance of enjoyment, — who exhibits 
herself incessantly amid the noise, the giddy frolic. 



EXTRACT XXII. 195 

and capricious variety of fashionable assemblages, — 
dissipating lier languid affections on a crowd, — lav- 
ishing her ready smiles with indiscriminate prodigal- 
ity on the worthy, or the undeserving, — and listen- 
ing, with equal vacancy of mind, to the conversation 
of the enlightened, the frivolity of the coxcomb, and 
the flourish of the fiddle -stick. 

There is a certain artificial polish, — a common- 
place vivacity, — acquired by perpetually mingling 
in the heau-monde ; Avhich, in the commerce of the 
world, supplies the place of natural suavity and good 
humor, but is purchased at the expense of all orig- 
inal and sterling traits of character. By a kind of 
fashionable discipline, the eye is taught to brighten, 
the lip to smile, and the whole countenance to radi- 
ate with the semblance of friendly welcome, — while 
the bosom is unwarmed by a single spark of genuine 
kindness or good will. This elegant simulation may 
be admired by the connoisseur of character, as a per- 
fection of art ; but the heart is not to be deceived by 
the superficial illusion : it turns with delight to the 
timid retiring fair one, whose smile is the smile of 
nature ; whose blush is the soft sufilision of delicate 
sensibility ; and whose aflections, unblighted by the 
chilling effects of dissipation, glow with all the ten- 
derness and purity of artless youth. Hers is a sin- 
gleness of mind, a native innocence of manners, and 
a sweet timidity, that steal insensibly upon the heart, 
and lead it a willing captive : — though venturing 
occasionally among the fairy haunts of pleasure, she 
shrinks from the broad glare of notoriety, and seems 
to seek refuge among her friends, even from the ad- 
miration of the Avorld. 



196 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 



EXTRACT XXIII. 

A Voyage up the Hudson, in the olden time, 

Washington Irving. 

Wildness and savage majesty reigned on the bor- 
ders of this mighty river. — The hand of cultivation 
had not yet laid low the dark forest, and tamed the 
features of the landscape ; nor had the frequent sail 
of commerce yet broken in upon the profound and 
awful solitude of ages. Here and there might be 
seen a rude wigwam, perched among the cliffs of the 
mountains, with its curHng column of smoke mount- 
ing in the transparent atmosphere ; but so loftily sit- 
uated, that the whoopings of the savage children, 
gambolling on the margin of the dizzy heights, fell 
almost as faintly on the ear, as do the notes of the 
lark, when lost in the azure vault of heaven. Now 
and then from the beetling brow of some rocky pre- 
cipice, the wild deer would look timidly down upon 
the splendid pageant as it passed below ; and then, 
tossing his brandling antlers in the air, would bound 
away into the tliickest of the forest. 

Now did they skirt the basis of the rocky heights 
of Jersey, which spring up like everlasting walls, 
reaching from the waves into the heavens ; and were 
fashioned, if tradition may be believed, in times' long 
past, by the mighty spirit Manetho, to protect his fa- 
vorite abodes from the unhallowed eyes of mortals. 
Now did they career it gayly across the vast expanse 
of Tappan Bay, whose wide-extended shores present 
a vast variety of delectable scenery, — here the bold 
promontory, crowned with embowering trees, ad- 
vancing into the bay, — there the long woodland 
slope, sweeping up from the shore in rich luxuriance, 
and terminating in the upland precipice, — while, at 
a distance, a long wavering line of rocky heights 



EXTRACT XXIII* 197 

threw their gigantic shades across the water. Now 
would they pass where some modest Httle interval, 
opening among these stupendous scenes, yet re- 
treating, as it were for protection, into the embraces 
of the neighboring mountains, displayed a rural para- 
dise, fraught with sweet and pastoral beauties ; the 
velvet-tufted lawn, the bushy copse, the tinkhng 
rivulet, stealing through the fresh and vivid ver- 
dure, on whose banks was situated some little In- 
dian village, or, peradventure, the rude cabin of some 
solitary hunter. 

The different periods of the revolving day seemed 
each, with cunning magic, to diffuse a different charm 
over the scene. Now would the jovial sun break 
gloriously from the east, blazing from the summits 
of eastern hills, and sparkling the landscape with a 
thousand dewy gems ; while along the borders of 
the river were seen heavy masses of mist, which 
like midnight caitiffs, disturbed at his approach, made 
a sluggish retreat, rolling, in sullen reluctance, up 
the mountains. At such times, all was brightness, 
and life, and gayety ; the atmosphere seemed of an 
indescribable pureness and transparency ; — the birds 
broke forth in wanton madrigals ; and the freshening 
breezes wafted the vessel merrily on her course. 
But when the sun sunk amid a flood of glory in the 
west, mantling the heavens and the earth with a 
thousand gorgeous dyes ; then all was calm, and si- 
lent, and magnificent. The late swelhng sail hung 
lifelessly against the mast ; — the simple seaman with 
folded arms leaned against the shrouds, lost in that 
involuntary musing, wliich the sober grandeur of na- 
ture commands, in the rudest of her children. The 
vast bosom of the Hudson was like an unruffled 
mirror, reflecting the golden splendor of the heavens, 
excepting that, now and then, a bark canoe would 
steal across its surface, filled with painted savages, 
whose gay feathers glared brightly as perchance a 
17# 



198 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

lingering ray of the setting sun gleamed upon them 
from the western mountains. 

But when the hour of twilight spread its magic 
mists around, then did the face of nature assume a 
thousand fugitive charms, which to the worthy heart 
that seeks enjoyment in the glorious works of its 
Maker, are inexpressibly captivating. The mellow 
dubious light that prevailed just served to tinge with 
illusive colors, the softened features of the scenery. 
The deceived but delighted eye sought vainly to dis- 
cern, in the broad masses of shade, the separating 
line between the land and water, or to distinguish 
the fading objects that seemed sinking into chaos. 
Now did the busy fancy supply the feebleness of 
vision, producing, with industrious craft, a fairy crea- 
tion of her own. Under her plastic wand, the barren 
rocks frowned upon the watery waste, in the sem- 
blance of lofty towers and high embattled castles ; — 
trees assumed the direful forms of mighty giants; 
and the inaccessible summits of the mountains seem- 
ed peopled with a thousand shadowy beings. 

Now broke forth from the shores the notes of an 
innumerable variety of insects, who filled the air with 
a strange but not inharmonious concert ; while ever 
and anon was heard the melancholy plaint of the 
whip-poor-will, who, perched on some lone tree, 
wearied the ear of night with his incessant mean- 
ings. The mind, soothed into a hallowed melan- 
choly by the solemn mystery of the scene, listened, 
with pensive stillness, to catch and distinguish each 
sound that vaguely echoed from the shore, — now 
and then startled perchance by the whoop of some 
straggling savage, or the dreary howl of some caitiff 
wolf, stealing forth upon his nightly prowlings. 



EXTRACT XXIV. 199 

EXTRACT XXIV. 

Poetry. William Ellery Channing. 

Poetry seems, to us, the divinest of all arts ; for it 
is the breathing or expression of that principle or 
sentiment which is deepest and snblimest in human 
nature ; we mean, of that thirst or aspiration, to which 
no mind is wholly a stranger, for something purer 
and lovelier, something more powerful, lofty, and 
thrilling, than ordinary and real life affords. No doc- 
trine is more common among Christians than that of 
man's immortahty ; but it is not so generally under- 
stood, that the germs or principles of his whole fu- 
ture being are noiv wrapped up in his soul, as the 
rudiments of the future plant in the seed. As a 
necessary result of tliis constitution, the soul, posses- 
sed and moved by these mighty though infant ener- 
gies, is perpetually stretching beyond what is pre- 
sent and visible, strugghng against the bounds of its 
earthly prison-house, and seeking relief and joy in 
imaginings of unseen and ideal being. This view 
of our nature, which has never been fully developed, 
and which goes farther towards explaining the con- 
tradictions of human life than all others, carries us 
to the very foundation and sources of poetry. He 
who can not interpret by his own consciousness what 
we now have said, wants the true key to works of 
genius. He has not penetrated those sacred recess- 
es of the soul, where poetry is born and nourished, 
and inhales immortal vigor, and mngs herself for 
her heaven-ward flight. 

In an intellectual nature, framed for progress and 
for higher modes of being, there must be creative 
energies, power of original and ever growing thought; 
and poetry is the form in which these energies are 
chiefly manifested. It is the glorious prerogative of 



200 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

this art, that it " makes all things new " for the grati- 
fication of a divine instinct. It indeed finds its ele- 
ments in what it actually sees and experiences, in 
the worlds of matter and mind ; but it combines and 
blends these into new forms and according to new 
afiinities ; breaks down, if we may so say, the dis- 
, tinctions and bounds of nature ; imparts to material 
objects life, and sentiment, and emotion, and invests 
the mind with the powers and splendors of the out- 
ward creation ; describes the surrounding universe 
in the colors which the passions throw over it, and 
depicts the mind in those modes of repose or agita- 
tion, of tenderness or sublime emotion, which mani- 
fest its thirst for a more powerful and joyful exist- 
ence. To a man of a literal and prosaic character, 
the mind may seem lawless in these workings ; but 
it observes higher laws than it transgresses, the laws 
of the immortal intellect ; it is trying and developing 
its best faculties; and in the objects wliich it de- 
scribes, or in the emotions which it awakens, antici- 
pates those states of progressive power, splendor, 
beauty, and happiness, for which it was created. 

We accordingly believe that poetry, far from in- 
juring society, is one of the great instruments of its 
refinement and exaltation. It lifts the mind above 
ordinary life, gives it a respite from depressing cares, 
and awakens the consciousness of its affinity with 
what is pure and noble. In its legitimate and high- 
est efforts, it has the same tendency and aim with 
Christianity ; that is, to spiritualise our nature. True, 
poetry has been made the instrument of vice, the 
pander of bad passions ; but when genius thus stoops, 
it dims its fires, and parts with much of its power; 
and even when poetry is enslaved to licentiousness 
or misanthropy, she cannot wholly forget her true 
vocation : Strains of pure feeling, touches of tender- 
ness, images of innocent happiness, sympathies with 
what is good in our nature, bursts of scorn and in- 



EXTRACT XXIV. 201 

dignatioii at the hoUowness of the world, passages 
true to our mortal nature, often escape in an im- 
moral work, and show us how hard it is for a gifted 
spirit to divorce itself wholly from what is good. 

Poetry has a natural alliance with our best affec- 
tions. It delights in the beauty and sublimity of 
outward nature and of the soul. It indeed portrays 
with terrible energy, the excesses of the passions; 
but they are passions which show a mighty nature, 
which are full of power, which command awe, and 
excite a deep though shuddering sympathy. Its 
great tendency and purpose is, to carry the mind be- 
yond and above the beaten, dusty, weary walks of 
ordinary life ; to lift it into a purer element, and to 
breathe into it a more profound and generous emo- 
tion. It reveals to us the lovehness of nature, brings 
back the fresliness of youthful feeling, revives the 
rehsh of simple pleasures, keeps unquenched the 
enthusiasm which warmed the spring time of our 
being, refines youthful love, strengthens our interest 
in human nature by vivid delineations of its tender- 
est and loftiest feelings, spreads our sympathies over 
all classes of society, knits us by new ties with uni- 
versal being, and, through the brightness of its pro- 
phetic visions, helps faith to lay hold on the future 
life. 

We are aware, that it is objected to poetry, that it 
gives wrong views and excites false expectations of 
life, peoples the mind with shadows and illusions, 
and builds up imagination on the ruins of wisdom. 
That there is a wisdom, against which poetry wars, 
the wisdom of the senses, which makes physical 
comfort and gratification the supreme good, and 
wealth the chief interest of life, we do not deny ; 
nor do we deem it the least service which poetry 
renders to mankind, that it redeems them from the 
thraldom of this earth-born prudence. But, passing 
over this topic, we would observe, that the complaint 



202 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

against poetry as abounding in illusion and decep- 
tion, is, in the main, groundless. In many poems 
there is more of truth, than in many histories and 
philosophic theories. The fictions of genius are 
often the vehicles of the sublimest verities ; and its 
flashes often open new regions of thought, and throw 
new light on the mysteries of our being. In poetry, 
the letter is falsehood, but the spirit is often pro- 
foundest wisdom. And if truth thus dv/ells in the 
boldest fictions of the poet, much more may it be 
expected in his delineations of life ; for the present 
life, which is the first stage of the immortal mind, 
abounds in the materials of poetry; and it is the 
high ofiice of the bard to detect this divine element 
among the grosser labors and pleasures of our earthly 
being. The present hfe is not wholly prosaic, tame, 
and finite. To the gifted eye, it abounds in the 
poetic. The afiections which spread beyond our- 
selves and stretch far into futurity ; the workings of 
mighty passions, which seem to arm the soul with 
an almost superhuman energy ; the innocent and ir- 
repressible joy of infancy ; the bloom, and buoyancy 
and dazzling hopes of youth ; the throbbings of the 
heart, when it first wakes to love, and dreams of a 
happiness too A^ast for earth; woman, with her 
beauty, and grace, and gentleness, and fulness of 
feeling, and depth of affection, and her blushes of 
purity, and the tones and looks which only a mother's 
heart can inspire ; — these are all poetical. It is not 
true that the poet paints a life which does not exist. 
He only extracts and concentrates, as it were, life's 
ethereal essence, arrests and condenses its volatile 
fragrance, brings together its scattered beauties, and 
prolongs its more refined but evanescent joys ; and 
in tills he does well ; for it is good to feel that life is 
not wholly usurped by cares for subsistence, and 
physical gratifications, but admits, in measures which 
may be indefinitely enlarged, sentiments and delights 
worthy of a higher being. 



EXTRACT XXV. 203 



EXTRACT XXV. 

Permanence of Literary Monuments, 

James Montgomery. 

An eloquent but extravagant writer has hazarded 
the assertion, that " words are the only things that 
last forever." Nor is tliis merely a splendid saying, 
or a startling paradox, that may be qualified by ex- 
planation into common-place ; but, with respect to 
man and his works on earth, it is literally true. 
Temples and palaces, amphitheatres and catacombs, 
monuments of power, and magnificence, and skill, to 
perpetuate the memory and preserve even the ashes 
of those who hved in past ages, must, in tlie revolu- 
tions of earthly events, not only perish, themselves, 
by violence or decay, but the very dust in which they 
perished be so scattered, as to leave no trace of their 
material existence behind. There is no security, 
beyond the passing moment, for the most permanent 
or the most precious of these ; they are as much in 
jeopardy as ever, after having escaped the changes 
and chances of thousands of years. An earthquake 
may suddenly ingulf the pyramids of Egypt, and 
leave the sand of the desert as blank as the tide 
would have left it on the sea- shore. A hammer, in 
the hand of an idiot, may break to pieces the Apollo 
Belvidere or the Venus de Medici, which are scarce- 
ly less worshipped, as miracles of art, in our day, 
than they were by idolaters of old, as representatives 
of deities. 

Looking abroad over the whole world, after the 
lapse of nearly six thousand years, what have we of 
the past but the ivords in which its history is record- 
ed? What beside a few mouldering and brittle 
ruins, which time is imperceptibly touching into 
dust ? What, beside these, remains of the glory, the 



204 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

grandeur, tlie intelligence, the supremacy of the Gre- 
cian republics, or the empire of Rome? Nothing 
but the words of poets, historians, philosophers, and 
orators, who, being dead, yet speak, and, in their im- 
mortal works, still maintain their ascendency over 
inferior minds, through all posterity. And these in- 
tellectual sovereigns not only " rule our spirits from 
their urns," by the power of their thoughts, but their 
very voices are heard by our living ears, in the ac- 
cents of their mother tongues. The beauty, the elo- 
quence, and art of these collocations of sounds and 
syllables, the learned alone can appreciate, and that 
only (in some cases) after long, intense, and labori- 
ous investigation. But, as thought can be made to 
transmigrate from one body of ^words into another, 
even through all the languages of the earth, without 
losing what may be called its personal identity, the 
great minds of antiquity continue to hold their as- 
cendency over the opinions, and manners, characters, 
institutions, and events of all ages and nations, 
through which their posthumous compositions have 
found way, and been made the earliest subjects of 
study, the highest standards of morals, and the most 
perfect examples of taste, to the master minds in 
every state of civilized society. In this respect, the 
words of inspired prophets and apostles among the 
Jews, and those of gifted writers among the ancient 
Gentiles, may truly be said to " last forever." 



EXTRACT XXVI. 

Circumstances under which Milton wrote Paradise 
Lost, and the Sonnets. Macaulay. 

Milton had survived his health and his sight, the 
comforts of his home and the prosperity of his party. 



EXTRACT XXVI. 205 

Of the great men by whom he had been distinguish- 
ed at his entrance into Hfe, some had been taken 
away from the evil to come ; some had carried into 
foreign chmates their unconquerable hatred of op- 
pression ; some were pining in dungeons ; and some 
had poured forth their blood on scaffolds. That hate- 
ful proscription, facetiously termed the Act of In- 
demnity and Oblivion, had set a mark on the poor, 
blind, deserted poet, and held him up by name to 
the hatred of a profligate court and an inconstant 
people. Venal and licentious scribblers, with just 
sufficient talent to clothe the thoughts of a pander in 
the style of a bellman, were now the favorite writers 
of the Sovereign and the public. It was a loath- 
some herd, which could be compared to nothing so 
fitly as to the rabble of Comus. Amidst these liis 
Muse was placed, like the chaste lady of the Masque, 
lofty, spotless, and serene ; — to be chattered at, and 
pointed at, and grinned at, by the whole rabble of 
satyrs and goblins. 

If ever despondency and asperity could be excused 
in any man, it might have been excused in Milton. 
But the strength of his mind overcame every calam- 
ity. Neither blindness, nor gout, nor age, nor pen- 
ury, nor domestic afflictions, nor political disappoint- 
ments, nor abuse, nor proscription, nor neglect, had 
power to disturb his sedate and majestic patience. 
His spirits do not seem to have been high, but they 
were pecuharly equable. His temper Avas serious, 
perhaps stern ; but it was a temper which no suffer- 
ings could render sullen or fretful. Such as it was, 
when, on the eve of great events, he returned from 
his travels, in the prime of health and manly beauty, 
loaded with literary distinctions, and glowing with 
patriotic hopes, — such it continued to be, when, 
after having experienced every calamity which is 
incident to our nature, old, poor, sightless, and dis- 
graced, he retired to his hovel to die. 
18 



206 SUBJECTS FOR EXERCISES. 

Hence it was, that, though he wrote the Paradise 
Lost at a time of life when images of beauty and 
tenderness are in general beginning to fade, even 
from those minds in which they have not been ef- 
faced by anxiety and disappointment, he adorned it 
with all that is most lovely. Neither Theocritus nor 
Ariosto had a finer or a more healthful sense of the 
pleasantness of external objects, or loved better to 
luxuriate amidst sunbeams and flowers, the songs 
of nightingales, the juice of summer fruits, and the 
coolness of shady fountains. His poetry reminds us 
of the miracles of Alpine scenery. Nooks and dells, 
beautiful as fairy land, are embosomed in its most 
rugged and gigantic elevations. The roses and 
myrtles bloom imchilled on the verge of the ava- 
lanche. 

Traces, indeed, of the peculiar character of Milton 
may be found in all his works ; but it is most strong- 
ly displayed in the Sonnets. Those remarkable 
poems have been undervalued by critics "who have 
not understood their nature. They have no epi- 
grammatic point. They are simple but majestic re- 
cords of the feelings of the poet ; as little tricked out 
for the public eye as his diary would have been. A 
victory, an unexpected attack upon the city, a mo- 
mentary fit of depression or exultation, a jest thrown 
out against one of his books, a dream, which, for a 
short time restored to him that beautiful face over 
which the grave had closed forever, led him to mus- 
ings which, without effort, shaped themselves into 
verse. 

The Sonnets are more or less striking, according 
as the occasions which gave birth to them are more 
or less interesting. But they are, almost without 
exception, dignified by a sobriety and greatness of 
mind to which we know not where to look for a 
parallel. It would indeed be scarcely safe to draw 
any decided inferences as to the character of a 



EXTRACT XXIV. 207 

writer, from passages directly egotistical. But the 
qualities which we have ascribed to Milton, though 
perhaps most strongly marked in those parts of his 
works which treat of his personal feehngs, are dis- 
tinguishable in every page, and impart to all his 
writings, prose and poetry, Enghsh, Latin, and Ita- 
han, a strong family likeness. 

His public conduct was such as was to be expect- 
ed from a man of a spirit so high, and an intellect so 
powerful. He hved at one of the most memorable 
eras in the history of mankind ; at a very crisis of 
the great conflict between Oromasdes and Arunanes 
— liberty and despotism, reason and prejudice. That 
great battle was fought for no single generation, for 
no single land. The destinies of the human race 
were staked on the same cast with the freedom of 
the English people. Then were first proclaimed 
those mighty principles which have since worked 
their way into the depths of the American forests, 
which have roused Greece from the slavery and de- 
gradation of two thousand years, and which, from 
one end of Europe to the other, have kindled an un- 
quenchable fire in the hearts of the oppressed, and 
loosed the knees of the oppressors with a strange 
and unAVonted fear ! 



APPENDIX. 



ORAL LE SSONS.^ 

Introductory Explanations^ designed for Pupils sufficiently advanced 
for the study of Grammar, 

Lesson I. — Language. 

[Question^ by the Teacher.] How many of this class have seen 
a menagerie ? [The Pupils who have, raise the hand.] Question. 
What is a menagerie ? Answer. A collection of animals. — Q. 
Who have seen an ourang outang ? What doest it resemble ? 
[Referring to a picture, if necessary.] A. A man or a boy. — Q. 
Was the one you saw quite like a man ? A. No : his feet were 
like hands. — Q. What things did he do, that made him resem- 



^ At the request of teachers who have expressed a wish to in- 
troduce the study of words, as an exercise in practical grammar, 
for their younger classes, examples of introductory oral instruc- 
tion are inserted in the appendix. The first series of these oral 
lessons, is intended for pupils of the grade mentioned above, and 
the second for those at an earlier age, but capable of being intel- 
ligently employed on elementary exercises on words. These ex- 
amples are, of course, nothing more than suggestive outlines, which 
teachers may modify according to the wants of their pupils. But 
introductory oral instruction, in some form, is indispensable, to 
prevent the performance of exercises from becoming mere parts 
of a mechanical routine, and to ensure their being executed with 
an intelligent interest. (209) 

18# 



210 APPENDIX. 

ble a man, more than any other animal does ? A. He stood up, 
and walked on two feet. — Q. What does a man do that the 
ourang outang can not do 1 A. He speaks. — Q. What other 
words do we sometimes use, when we mean speaJcing ? A. Speech, 
language. — Q. What is the use of language ? A, To tell what 
we think. — What other word do we sometimes use, when we 
mean thinking ? A. Thought. — Q. May we not say, then, that 
language expresses thought 1 

Xesson II. — Thoughts, — Ideas. 

Q. What does language express ? A. Thought. — Q. What 
is a thought ? A. Something in our mind. — Q. Is it one thing, 
or more than one thing 1 A. Sometimes one, sometimes more. 
Q. When I am lying awake, in a cold winter night, and hear 
something soft falling, all the while, on the window-panes, and 
I think it is not hail, because it does not make a rattling sound, 
and I think it is not rain because it does not sound like that, 
what do I think ? A. You think it is snow. — Q. I might 
say, then, to any one who happened to be near, " I think snow is 
falling" ; or, if I felt sure of it, I might say, '' Snow is falling." 
What is in my mind then, — what is my thought? A, You 
think that snow is falling. — Q. How many things are in my 
mind then ? A, Two, — snow and falling. — Q. Are there not 
morel Think again, — "snow falling," "falling snow." This 
is not all that I said, when I told somebody, " Snow is falling." 
What is the use of " /s," here ? A. It tells that snow is falling. 

— Q, Yes ; if I only say, " Snow falling," or " falling snow," I 
do not tell anything. When I think, then, that snow is falling, 
are there not three things in my mind, snow Siud falling, and that I 
think it is falling? To make the whole thought, then, how many 
things must we have in the mind 1 A. Three. — Q. If I say, 
" Kain is falling," — how many ? — " Wind is blowing ? " — 
" Morning is dawning ? " — " Clouds are passing ? " — A. Three. 

— Q. A whole thought, then, is made up of how many parts ? 
A. Three. — Q. Do you know a name for these parts ? A, 
No. — Q. When there is but one thing, or one part of a whole 



ORAL LESSONS. 211 

thought, in the mind, we call it an idea. So, when I think that 
snow is falling, I have an idea of snow^ an idea o^ falling^ and an 
idea that it is falling ; and these three ideas make the whole 
thought. How many ideas are there in each of these thoughts, 
Rain is falling, — Wind is blowing, — Morning is breaking, — 
Clouds are passing? A. Three. — Q. Can you mention them 1 
A. In the thought, Rain is falling, etc. [as above.] — Q. Do 
you observe that, in every one of these thoughts, there is some- 
thing that we are thinking o/J — something that we think about 
what we are thinking of, and something that tells that we do think 
thus about it ? In the thought, Snow is falling, what are we think- 
ing of? A. Snow. — Q. What do we think about it. A. That 
it is falling. — Q. What shows that we do think thus about it ? 
A. We say it is falling. 

Lesson HI. — Propositions, — their parts. 

Q. What did you say is the use of language ? A. To ex- 
press our thoughts. — Q. If we wish to understand and study 
language, then, what must we do 1 A. Understand our thoughts. 
— Q. How may we learn to understand our thoughts ? How 
do we learn to know flowers ? A. By examining them. — Q. 
Can we examine our thoughts ? A. We cannot see them ; but 
we can think about them. — Q. Do you wish to know what w^e 
call a thought, when we are examining if? We call it a '^ pro- 
position^ Can you tell me what the word proposition means '? It 
means placed before, — something placed before the mind. What 
name then may I give to this thought. Snow is falling '? J.. A 
proposition. — Q. To this ? Rain is falling. To these 1 Trees 
are growing. Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. Boys 
are playing. Summer is warm. Winter is cold. James is read- 
ing. John is listening. — Q. Can you give other examples of 
propositions ? Can you find any in your reading-book ? 

Q. When we wish to speak about the different parts of our 
thoughts, it would be convenient, — would it not ? — to have 
names for all of them ? Thus, instead of saying about one of the 
ideas in a thought, that it is what we are thinking of, would it 



212 APPENDIX. 

not be more convenient to name it by one word 1 Would you 
like then to know the name we give to the idea which we are 
thinking of'? We call it the " subject,''^ because it is the subject of 
our thought. What name do we give to what we are thinking 
of? A. The subject. Q. Can you tell me the subject in these 
propositions, Snow is falling, Kain is falling, etc., [with addition- 
al examples.] A. Snow, rain, etc. — Q. Would you like to 
know the name which we give to the idea that we have about the 
subject of our thought ? We call it the predicate, because it pre- 
dicates, or tells, what we think about the subject. Can you men- 
tion now the predicate in each of these propositions, Snow is 
falling, [etc.] 1 A. " Falling," " blowing," [etc.] — Q. Can you 
mention the predicate in these propositions ? [additional exam- 
ples.] A. [accordingly.] — Q. Would you like to know the 
name which we give to the fact that we do form of the subject 
the idea in the predicate ? Because it connects the predicate 
with the subject, we call it the " copula,''^ or connective. Can you 
mention the copula in each of these propositions. Snow is fall- 
ing, etc. ? A. " 7s," — in all of them. — Q. In these proposi- 
tions ? [additional examples.] A. [accordingly.] 

Lesson TV. — Sentences. 

Q. If we express a thought or proposition in words, thus, 
[writing, on the blackboard, the words, " Rain is falling,"] we 
may call it by yet another name. What is that name ? J.. A 
sentence. — Q. The word sentence means thought, and hence is 
used as the grammatical name for a thought, or proposition, ex- 
pressed in words. What is the grammatical name for a proposi- 
tion ? -4. A sentence. — Q. How many ideas are necessary to 
make a complete thought. A. Three. — Q. What are their lo- 
gical names ? A, Subject, predicate, copula. — Q. Can you 
give an example ? A. " Rain is falling." — Q. Can you tell 
which of these words [pointing to the sentence written on the 
board,] represents the subject, which the predicate, and which the 
copula ? A. [accordingly.] — Q. [After writing, on the board, 
the sentence, " Rain falls,"] What is the subject of this proposi- 



ORAL LESSONS. 213 

tion ? A. Rain. — Q. What is the predicate ? A, Falls. — 
Q. Where is the copula'? — A, There is none. — Q. Is there 
nothing to take its place 1 Is there any difference between the 
propositions, Rain is falling, and Rain falls 1 May I not say 
either, speaking of the weather, when it rains ? But if I should 
say " Rain fall," or write these words thus, [writing the words, 
" Bain fall,''^] on the blackboard, would they make sense ? — would 
they make a thought '? — a proposition 1 — a sentence ? Should 
I tell anything then ? Now, when I say or write, " Rain falls," do 
not the words make sense — make a proposition ? — Do not they 
tell something ? — make a sentence ? Do you observe, then, that 
when we add s to ^^fall^^^ it makes the sense the same with is fall- 
ing? What part of a proposition, then, does s stand for? A, 
The copula. — Q, Can you show this by the other examples 
which we have had '? A. [accordingly.] — Q. Can you give 
other examples ? A. [accordingly.] — Q. Instead of three parts, 
therefore, what smaller number of parts may a proposition have ? 
A. Two. — What are these ? A, Subject and predicate. — Q. 
Can you give examples of such propositions 1 A. [accordingly.] 

Q. What did you say is the grammatical name of a proposi- 
tion 1 A, A sentence. — Q. Shall I tell you, now, the gram- 
matical name for the subject of a proposition ? It is called, some- 
times, the " sm6;€c^ ; " because it is the subject about which the 
other words in a sentence tell us som'ething. But there is an- 
other name for it, which belongs to grammar only, — the " nomi- 
native^'' or name, becanse it is the name of the subject of the pro- 
position, or the word which stands for it. Can you tell me now 
the nominative in all the sentences which we have been attending 
to 1 A. [accordingly.] — Q. Can you give other examples ? 
A. [accordingly.] 

Q. Is the copula of a proposition always expressed separate- 
ly ? Do you remember an example of a proposition in which it 
is expressed ? — of one in which it is not expressed ? A. [ac- 
cordingly.] — Q. In grammar, it is not taken notice of separate- 
ly, but is considered as belonging to the predicate and forming a 
part of it, as you observed when we added s to '-'-faU^'^ in the sen- 
tence, " Rain falls." What is the remaining part, then, of a pro- 



214 APPENDIX. 

position that we must attend to, if we wish to know all its parts 
grammatically ? A. The predicate. — Q. Shall I tell you now 
its grammatical name ? It is called the " ye?'6," or word, because 
it is the important word in a sentence ; since, without it, we could 
not have a proposition, or a thought, expressed, and therefore 
could not have a sentence. Can you tell me the verb in every 
one of the sentences which we have attended to ? A. [accord- 
ingly.] — Q. Can you give other examples ? A, [accordingly.] 

Lesson V. — Clauses. 

Q. [After writing, on the blackboard, the sentence, " Heavy 
rain already falls, thick and fast, from the clouds."] Into how 
many parts do the commas divide this sentence ? A. Three. — 
Q. Shall I tell you the grammatical name for these parts 1 
They are called " clauses,'^ or enclosures, because they are en- 
closed by the commas. Can you tell me how many clauses there 
are in this sentence, written on the board ? — " Heavy rain al- 
ready falls, thick and fast, from the clouds ; and the wind blows 
hard." A. Four. — Q. From what point does a fourth clause 
commence ? A. The semicolon. — Q. [After writing the sen- 
tence, " Heavy rain already falls, thick and fast, from the clouds ; 
and the wind blows hard : it will be a stormy night."] How many 
clauses are there in this sentence '? A, Five. — Q. From what 
point does the fifth clause commence ? A. The colon. — Q. 
[After writing the sentence, " Heavy rain already falls, thick and 
fast, from the clouds ; and the wind blows hard : it will be a 
stormy night ; and I fear that our friends will be anxious about 
us, unless we set out at once, and drive rapidly."] How many 
clauses are there in this sentence 1 A, Eight. — Q. What points 
enclose the parts of this sentence 7 A. Commas, semicolons, a 
colon, and a period. — Q, Can you explain to me what a clause 
is '? A. It is a part of a sentence separated from the rest by one 
or two points. — Q. Can you show me, from your reading-book, 
examples of sentences which have but one clause 1 — two — three 
— four — five — six — or more ? A, [accordingly.] 



ORAL LESSONS. 215 



Lesson VI. — Phrases. 



Q. [After writing on the board the sentence, " Heavy rain al- 
ready falls, thick and fast, from the clouds."] How many clauses 
did you say there are in this sentence ? A. Three. — Q. Can 
you divide these clauses themselves ? Try, by reading the sen- 
tence slowly and carefully, and watching whether you make any 
pauses, besides those which you make at the points. A. Wej 
pause a little at " Heavy rain," before we read " already falls."' 
— Q. And does not that pause seem to join the two words, 
" Heavy rain," and the two words, " already falls V Why may 
we not pause after " Heavy " and after " already " '? A. Because 
" Heavy " belongs to " rain," and " already " to " falls." — Q. Why 
may we not omit a pause between "rain" and "already," and 
join them to one another ? A. Because they do not belong to 
one another. — Q. Would it make sense, if we should pause 
after " Heavy " and " already," and make no pause between 
" rain " and " already " ? A. No. — Q. Then, in reading, we 
must join those words of a sentence which are joined in sense, 
and separate those which are separated in sense, — must we ? 
What did we call those clusters of words which are enclosed by 
points ? A. Clauses. — Q. Shall I tell you, now, the name of 
those little clusters, or groups, (as we sometimes call them,) of 
words which belong to one another, in sense, and are smaller 
than clauses, and therefore have no points to enclose them 1 We 
call them " phrases^^^ or sayings, because, although they do not, 
like a whole sentence, tell^ or affirm, something, they say some- 
thing. Can you show me phrases from any page of your read- 
ing-book ? A. [accordingly.] — Q, When you compare clauses 
with phrases, what would you say of clauses ? Are they any- 
thing more than longer phrases '? Let us see. Is there any 
pause to be made in the clause " from the clouds," in the sentence 
we have been studying ? A, No. — Q. Is it not a phrase then ? 
A. Yes. — Q, Why 1 A. Because all the words are joined in 
the sense, and must be joined in reading. — Q. Some phrases 
then, may have more than two words ? A. Yes ; this one has 



216 APPENDIX. 

three. — Q. Do you see any other phrase, in this sentence, which 
is both a clause and a phrase'? A. Yes; "thick and fast." — 
Q. What shall we say, then, that a phrase is ? A. As many 
words, or as few, as are closely joined in sense, whether they 
make a clause or not. — Q. Can you show me, from your read- 
ing-book, phrases of three, four, or five words ? A. [accordingly.] 

Lesson YIL — Words, Syllables, Letters. 

Q. We have been di\dding sentences "into clauses and phrases. 
Can we find any smaller part still than a phrase ? What are 
phrases made of 1 A. Words. — Q. And what are words made 
of 1 A. Syllables. — Q. " Syllables " means taken together, or 
grouped. Can you show me examples of syllables ? A. [accord- 
ingly.] — Q. Do you remember that phrases are made up of groups 
of words ? What should you then say syllables are made of '? 
A. Groups of letters. — Q, Is there any smaller part of a sylla- 
ble than a letter 1 A. No. — Q. Can you tell me now what is 
the smallest part of a sentence "i A, A letter. 

Q. What branch of education do we call that which teaches us 
about sentences, words, syllables, and letters 1 A. Grammar. — 
Q, Do you know any one word which we can use, when we mean 
to express what grammar teaches us. We say arithmetic teaches 
us about number, geography teaches us about the earth, astronomy 
teaches us about the stars, and grammar teaches us about what ? 
A, Language. — Q, And language is made up of what 1 A. 
Sentences, words, syllables, and letters. — Q. Letters, then, are 
the smallest part of language. If we wish to study language, 
then, what must we begin with, if we wish to take up the small- 
;■ est and easiest part ? A. Letters. — Q, What is this ? [Making 
1 a short perpendicular line on the blackboard.] x\. A mark. — 
Q. What is it now ? [Drawing a short hair-line across the head 
and foot of the line.] A. It is the letter /. — Q. A letter, then, 
is a mark, — a mark for what 1 J.. A sound of the voice. — Q. 
Of what kind, — a musical, or a speaking sound 1 A. A speak- 
ing sound. — Q. How many letters belong to our language 1 A. 
Twenty-six. 



ORAL LESSONS. 217 



Lesson YIII. — Orthoepy. 

Q. If there are twenty-six letters in our alphabet, and every 
letter is the mark for a sound of the voice, how many different 
sounds must there be in our language ? A, Twenty-six. — Q, 
But some of our letters have several different sounds. How do 
we sound " a " in the word " all " ? — in the word " arm " — in 
the word " and " — in the word " ale " — in the word " air " ? A, 
[accordingly.] — Q. [After exemplifying the various sounds of 
all the letters of the alphabet.] You observe, then, that, al- 
though we have, in our alphabet, but twenty-six letters, we have 
about forty different sounds represented by them. Now, as all 
the syllables and words of our language are made up from these 
forty or more sounds, what must we know, in order to read or 
speak our language rightly 1 A, We must know these sounds, 
and how to put them together. — Q. Do you wish to know what 
that part of grammar is called which teaches us about these 
sounds *? It is called " orthoepy^^ which means correct speech or 
pronunciation. What do we call the part of grammar which 
teaches us to pronounce correctly ? A, Orthoepy. — Q. How 
does grammar teach us this branch of language ? It gives us 
certain rules in our grammar book. But does it not lead us to 
make use of other books ? What do we learn from the primer, 
the spelling-book, the dictionary 1 A. How to spell words, and 
how to pronounce them, and what their meaning is. — Q. Yes ; 
grammar is meant to teach us everything about language, even to 
our letters ; and the primer, the spelling-book, and the dictionary, 
are all grammar books, because they all teach us to understand 
and use the words of our language rightly. When I am talking, 
how do my words enter into your minds ? Could you under- 
stand them, if you were deaf? You receive them into your 
' mind, by what ? A, By the ear. — Q. When I write words 
on the blackboard, or when you read them in a book, how do you 
receive them into your mind, — by what ?- A. By the eye. — Q. 
What kind of language do we call that in which words come 
from the voice to the ear ? A, Speech, — spoken language. — 
19 



218 APPENDIX. 

Q, What do we call that which comes from letters to the eye ? 

— A. Writingj — written language, — printing. — Q. Which 
kind of language does orthoepy teach us? A» Spoken lan- 
guage. 

Lesson IX. — Oethography. 

Q. How is spoken language changed into written language ? 
Letters, you said, are marks for speaking sounds or speech. 
How, then, may we communicate, by language, with persons who 
are at a great distance from us, — in another part of the world 
perhaps, — or how may our words be brought to the minds of 
people after we are dead ? A, By writing or printing. — Q, 
What is writing or printing ? — A, Making marks for the sounds 
which we should make if we were speaking. When people read 
these marks, they will know our words, and understand our mean- 
ing. — Q, What kind of language do we call this ? A, Writ- 
ten language. — Q, Can you tell me the name of the part of ^ 
grammar which teaches us written language ? A. Orthography. 

— Q. " Orthography " means correct writing, — the correct writ- 
ing of language, — not the penmanship, but what ? A, Spelling. 

— Q, What do we learn, then, from this part of grammar ? A. 
To put the proper letters and syllables into words, when we write 
them. — Q. What means does grammar use to teach us this part 
of language ? How are we taught to spell correctly ? A. By 
the words given us in the primer, the spelling-book, and the dic- 
tionary, and by rules in the grammar book itself. — Q. Now you 
will understand why the science of language is called " grammar J^ 
The word " grammar" signifies writing; and, as it requires more 
knowledge of language to write it correctly, than to speak it, the 
part of language which requires most scientific knowledge, the 
written part, — is that which we are supposed to be chiefly study- 
ing, when we are learning language. Hence it is called grammar. 
— Why is grammar so called ? A. Because it is meant princi- 
pally to teach written language. ! 

Note, — The exercises prescribed in this manual, for young pu- 
pils, are designed, chiefly, for practice in the first stages of gram- 



ORAL LESSONS. 219 

mar, — orthoepy, orthography, and etymology so far only as re- 
gards derivation. The examples of explanatory oral instruction, 
are accordingly limited to these branches, and are carried no far- 
ther, in these, than is necessary for the intelligent performance of 
the exercises. 



Introductory Explanations^ designed fm* very young PupilsM 

Lesson I. — Grammar. 

Questions^ by the Teacher. How many of this class know what 
botany is. What does it teach us ? Answer, by the Pupils. 1[ About 
flowers. — Q. Yes ; and about trees, and shrubs, and vegetables, 
and weeds. By what one word may we call all these? A. 
Plants. — Q. How many know what astronomy is ? What does 
it teach us ? A. About the stars. — Q. If I were going to teach 
you botany, what must I do 1 A, Give us books with pictures 
that would tell us all about flowers. — Q, Might I not rather 
bring some flowers, and show them to you, so that you might see 
all their parts, and be able to describe them yourselves, and then 
hear what more I could tell you about them, and what the books 
would tell you 1 A. That would be best. — Q. If I were going 
to teach you astronomy, what must 1 do ? A. Give us books 

* A useful and interesting course of elementary lessons and 
exercises on words, may be advantageously commenced, long be- 
fore pupils have attained the age at which it would be advisable 
to propose systematic lessons from any treatise on grammar. 
Children at the age of six or seven years, may, — if the author of 
this manual may judge from repeated experience, — be easily led 
to take an interest as earnest and as intelligent in the study of 
words, as in that of the most attractive specimens in natural his- 
tory. 

t In the earliest stages of instruction, there is no impropriety in 
the answer to a question being given by the teacher, when it can- 
not be obtained from the pupils themselves. It is preferable, how- 
ever, to vary the form of a question, and even to put leading ques- 
tions, if the subject is at all accessible to the pupil's own mind. 



220 APPENDIX. 

fall of figures, and pictures of the stars. — Q. Should you not 
understand better, if I should have you come to me, on clear even- 
ings, and have you look at the stars, while I pointed them out to 
you, and told you what I knew about them? A, Yes. — Q, 
Should you not then understand the figures and pictures in your 
books much better ? A, Yes. 

Q. How many of this class know what grammar is ? "What do 
we learn when we study grammar 1 A. How to talk right, — 
how to write letters, — how to write compositions. — Q, Yes; 
how to speak and write correctly. I once heard a little boy say, 
" The cars is comin'." Was that speaking correctly ? A. No. 

— Q, What should he have said 1 A, " The cars are coming,''^ 

— Q. Yes ; and when that boy has studied grammar, he will 
know why he should not say, " The cars is comin'," and why he 
should say, " The cars are coming." 

Lesson II. — Language, 

Q. You said grammar teaches us how to talk correctly and 
write correctly. Now, can any one tell me a word which I may 
use correctly, if I mean either speaking or writing, and that will 
do for the one just as well as for the other ? A, No. — Q. Well, 
if you cannot tell me one, let me tell you one. [The teacher writes 
or prints, on the blackboard, " Grammar teaches us to speak and 
write correctly."] — What have I done 1 A. You have written, 
" Grammar teaches us to speak and write correctly." — Q, [After 
uttering the words, " Grammar teaches us to speak and write cor- 
rectly."] What have I done now ? A, You have said, " Gram- 
mar teaches us to speak and write correctly." — Q. [Pointing 
to the blackboard.] You call this written what ? A. Written 
words. — Q. What do you call this ? [Repeating the words 
orally.] A. Spoken words. — Q. Should you understand me, 
if I called this, [pointing to the words on the blackboard,] written 
language^ and this, [repeating the words, orally,] spoken language ? 
A. Yes. — Q. Should you understand me, then, if I said, 
" Grammar teaches us to use language correctly," or, " the correct 
use of language 1 " A, Yes. — Q. Now can you tell me what 



ORAL LESSONS. 221 

word means the same thing as spoken words or written words 1 
A, Language. 

Lesson III. — Wobds. 

Q. If I am to teach you grammar, or the correct use of lan- 

; guage, what must I do ? Can I give you anything to handle and 

I examine, as I would hand you a flower, if I were going to teach 

i you botany ? Can I show you language, in any way ? A. You 

can show us words. — Q. How 1 A. You can speak words ; 

and we shall hear them. — Q, Can I show you words in any 

other way 1 A. You can write words on the blackboard for us 

to see. — Q. Can I show you words in any other way ? A. You 

can show them to us in books. — Q. [Showing a book.] What 

is this ? ^. A book. — Q. [Showing a page of a music-book.] 

What do you see in this book 1 A, Marks for singing, — notes. 

— Q. [Showing a page of a reading-book.] What do you see in 
this book ? A. Words. — Q. Some of you said the music-book 
has marks for singing. What may we say the reading-book has 1 
A, Marks for reading. — Q. Can we look at these marks, and 
examine them, and so understand what they mean ? A, Yes. — 
Q. When we look at a flower and examine it, so as to know 
every part of it, what are we studying 1 ud. A flower. — Q; 
What science did you say teaches us about flowers ? A. Botany. 

— Q, May we say rightly, that, when we are studying a flower, 
we are learning botany ? A. Yes. — Q. When we are looking 
at a word, and are trying to understand and read it rightly, what 
are we studying ? JL. A word. — Q. What did you say we may 
call written or printed or spoken words 1 A. Language. — Q. 
What science teaches us about language % A. Grammar. — Q. 
When we are studying words, then, what are we learning 1 A, 
Grammar. — Q. Why do we learn grammar ? A, To be able 
to speak and write correctly. — Q. To speak and write what ? 
A, Words. — Q. To learn grammar, then, we must study what ? 
A. Words. 

19^ 



222 APPENDIX. 



Lesson IV. — Compound Words. 

Q. If I were teaching you botany, and we were examining a 
flower, we would look carefully at every part of it. Can you tell 
me the names of some of the parts of a flower ? A, Yes : the 
root, the stalk, the leaves, the blossom. — Q. Well, words have 
several parts which we can examine. [After writing, on the 
blackboard, the word sunshine.] How many parts has that word 1 
A, Two, — sun and shine, — Q, How many parts has each of 
these words, — Moonshine, sunlight, moonlight, lamplight, schoolroom, 
pathway ? A, [accordingly.] — Q. Can you name some words 
of two parts like those which we have been dividing 1 A. [ac- 
cordingly.] — Q. Can you divide these words, — Uphold, uplift, 
sheepfold, vineyard, manful, highland, lowland, treetop, blackboard, 
goodnatured? A. [accordingly.] — Q. Into how many parts 
have you divided all these words ? J.. Into two. — Q. Can 
you divide these words into parts, — Foretopmast, gentlemanlike, 
foretopgallantsail ? A, [accordingly.] — Q. Into how many parts 
have you divided these ? A, Two into three, and one into four. 

— Q. Do the parts of these words all make words by themselves 
if we separate them from one another? A, Yes. — Q. Shall I 
tell you the name by which we call all words of this kind ? They 
are called " compound " words, because they are compounded, or 
made up of simple or single words. Can you tell me anything 
else, besides words, which is compounded, or made up, of single 
things'? What is this book compounded of'? A. Paper and 
leather. — Q. What kind of book is if? A. A spelling-book. 

— Q. What sort of word is spelling-book, — simple or compound ? 
A, Compound. — Q. Why ? A» Because it is compounded 
of spelling and book. — Q. [After writing on the blackboard the 
word treetop.] Have I divided this word into parts, or written it 
as one word 1 A, As one word. — Q. [After writing the word 
spelling-book.] Have I written spellingbook as one word, or divided 
it into two '? A. You have divided it into two. — Q. How '? 
A. By that little mark. — Q. Would you like to know its 
name 1 We call it a " hyphen.''^ Can you show, in any page of 



ORAL LESSONS. 223 

your Reader, compound words divided by a hyphen ? A. [ac- 
cordingly.] — Q. How did you divide the compound word up- 
hold ? A. [accordingly.] — Q. What does uphold mean ? A. 
To hold up. — Q. Can you divide all the other words, and tell 
me their meanings ? A, [accordingly.] — Q. Do you observe 
that when we divide such words we see their meaning more plain- 
ly ? A part of the study of words then, you observe, is to di- 
vide compound words into the simple words of which they are 
made up, so as to understand the meaning of compound words 
more fully. Can you divide these compound words, and tell 
their meaning, — Milkman^ newsboy ^ housemaid^ haystack, homestead j 
farmhouse, door -hell, fire-shovel, ham-yard^ housetop, hillside, roof -tree, 
bellringer? A. [accordingly.] 

Lesson V. — Syllables. 

Q. You have divided compound words into parts according 
to their meaning. Can you think of any other way in which 
words may be divided ? [After writing on the blackboard the 
word Speaker.] Can you read this word very slowly and distinct- 
ly ? A. [accordingly.] — Q. Into how many parts do you di- 
vide the word ? A. Two. — Q. [After writing the word thus, 
on the blackboard, Spea-ker.] Have I written the word as you 
divided it, when you read it ? No. — Q. [After writing the word 
thus, Speak-er.] Have I divided it rightly now 1 A. Yes. Q. 
You see, then, that we may divide spoken words by the voice, al- 
though they are not compound words, and that we may divide 
written words by the hyphen into the same parts which they would 
have, if they were spoken words. Now, can you tell me why we 
must divide this word speaker, by the voice, into two parts, one 
ending with k, and the other beginning with e? A. The sounds 
seem to go so, themselves. — Q. Yes ; that is the easiest way to 
pronounce the word. Can you divide, in this way, these words, — 
Unkind, manly, goodness, delay^ before, advance, return, unkindness, 
manliness, delaying, advancement, retreating, unmusical, recovery, in- 
gratitude, indiscreetly, imprudently, uninteresting, disinterested, un- 
generously, unintelligible, incomprehensible, incontrovertibly ? A. [ac- 



224 APPENDIX. 

cordingly, naming the syllables successively.] Q. Into how 
many parts did you divide some of these words 1 A. Into two. 

— Q. Into how many did you divide the rest 1 A. Some into 
three, some into four, some into five, and some into six. — Q, 
How did you divide them ? — in what way 1 A, The way the 
sounds seemed to go, themselves. — Q. Shall I tell you the 
name which we give to the parts of words, when we divide them 
so ? We call them " syllables.-^ What do we call the parts of 
words into which they seem to divide most easily for the voice ? 
A. Syllables. — Q. Can you show me examples, in your spel- 
ling-book, of words divided into two, — three, — four, — five,— - 
and six syllables ? A. [accordingly.] 

Lesson VL — Letters. 

Q. What name did we give to the parts of words, when we 
divide them by the voice, or by a hyphen 1 A. Syllables. — Q, 
Can we divide syllables themselves 1 When I speak the word 
" upholdj'^ into what syllables do I divide it with my voice 1 A. 
Up and hold. — Q. How many sounds do I make when I say 
" up " ? A. Two. — Q. What are they ? A. [The sounds of 
the letters given.] — Q. When I say " ^o/J," how many sounds 
do I make 1 A. Tour. — Q. What are they ? A, [The sounds 
of the letters given.] — Q. Spoken words, then, are divided into 
syllables, and syllables into what 1 A, Sounds. — Q, How are 
written words divided ? A, Into syllables. — Q. How ? A. 
By hyphens. — Q. And how are syllables divided, in written 
words ? A, Into letters. — Q. What are letters, in written 
words, meant for ? A. The sounds that we make in speaking 
the syllables. — Q. May we not say, then, that letters are marks 
for the sounds of the voice in reading and speaking ? A, Yes, 

— Q. Is there any part of spoken language smaller than a single 
sound of the voice ? A. No. — Q. Is there any part of written 
language smaller than a letter? A. No. — Q. What did you 
say was the name for the part of education that teaches us about 
language 1 A. Grammar. — Q. When we begin to learn gram- 
mar, then, and begin with the simplest and easiest part of it, what 



ORAL LESSONS. 225 

shall we study ? A, Letters. — Q. What do we call the letters, 
of our language, when we call them all by one word ? A, The 
alphabet. — Q, You all know the names of the letters of the al- 
phabet. Can you tell me their sounds one by one? [Review 
the elementary sounds of the language, throughout.] — Q. "Why 
do we study the sounds of letters 1 Can we pronounce the syl- 
lables of a word correctly if we give wrong sounds to the letters ? 
A. No. — Q. Can we pronounce words correctly if we do not 
give the syllables their proper sounds *? A, No. — Q. To read 
and to speak correctly, then, we must be able to give all the let- 
ters, in every word which we pronounce, their right sounds. How 
do we learn to give the sounds of letters correctly ? A, By 
spelling in the primer and the spelling-book, and, afterwards, by 
reading lessons in other books, and in the dictionary. — Q. How 
do we study written language 1 A. By learning to write words 
with their proper letters. — Q. What do we call this ? A. Spel- 
ling. — Q. How do we study written spelling ? A, By learning 
lessons in the primer, and the spelling-book, and in other books, 
and in the dictionary, — Q. How do we learn such lessons, in 
written language ? A, By writing or printing them. 



15 



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Prof. John P. Marshal, Tufts College, Somerville, says : " The 
plan of teaching the most important rules of punctuation by 
making them serve as copies, is novel, and can scarcely fail of 
being profitable to the scholar." 

COMER'S BOOK-KEEPING. 

A Simple Method of Keeping Books by Double Entry, without 
the Formula of a Journal. — By G. N. Comer. 

Mr. Comer is proprietor of Comer's Commercial College, and 
has been long and favorably known as an accomplished Account- 
ant, Instructor, &c. Twelve thousand copies of his Book- Keep- 
ing have been sold, and, wherever it is used, it has the acknow- 
ledged preference over every other System. 

, BOOK-KEEPING BLANKS : 

Adapted to any system of Book-keeping, including Ledger, 
Journal, Day-Book, and Cash, fine paper, demi-quarto. 

Teachers and School Committees who wish to examine the 
(above books can have copies, gratis, on application at the store 
'of the publishers. 



NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 

PUBLISHED BY 

WHITTEMOEE, NILES, AND HALL, 

Wo. 114 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. price 

Franklin's Works. Edited by Jared Sparks, LL. D. A New Edi- 
tion. 10 vols. 8vo. 22 Plates. Cloth. $ 15.00 

Do. do. Half calf, gilt. 25.00 

Do. Life. By Jared Sparks, LL.D. A New Edition. 1 vol. 
8vo. 3 Plates. Cloth. 1.50 

Do. do. Half calf, gilt. 2.50 

THOMAS DE QUINCEY. 

Klosterheim ; or the Masque. A Novel. Bjr Thomas De Quin- 
Cey, Author of ^' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater." With a 
Biographical Preface, by Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, 1 vol. 16mo. 
Cloth. .75 

" It contains some of the finest tokens of De Quincey's genius." — Christian 
Examiner, 

" We have read it at least three times, and still find our mind as chained as 
ever by the magic genius that glows on every page." — J\rew York Day-Book. 

" In brilliancy of style, vigor of conception, and skill in the treatment, Klos- 
terheim is worthy of Mr. De Cluincey's rich and varied powers. Indeed, the 
tremendous force of his imagination is more apparent, we think, in this work, 
than in almost any of his other writings. The Biographical Notice by Dr. 
Mackenzie is worthy of special commendation." — Boston Traveller. 

'* We do not hesitate to affirm that it is much more readable than some of his 
pet productions, while it is quite as instructive. It would be known at once, if 
It appeared anonymously, as the work of a man of learning and imaginative 
power." — Boston Morning Post. 

" One of the most remarkable productions of one of the most remarkable men 
of the age." — J. O. Saxe, in Burlington Sentinel. 

JOHN STERLING. 

The Onyx Ring, a Tale. By John Sterling. With a Bio- 
graphical Preface, by Charles Hale. 1 vol. 16mo. Cloth. .75 

" One of the richest and best productions of a truly good and gifted man, a 
man in whose praise it is sufficient to say that he gained in his short life the en- 
thusiastic reverence and love of Julius Hare and Thomas Carlyle. This ' onyx ' 
is a true jewel, refreshing to human eyes. The value of the story lies in its 
pure, deep sympathy with all that is best and most hopeful in human life. By 
virtue of his magic ring, the hero of the narrative enters into the consciousness 
of the various men about him, learns their power and their weakness, and w^ 



2 WHITTEMORE, NILES, AND HALL S NEW PUBLICATIONS. 

glad at last to be himself, and to do and suffer and rejoice as God meant he 
should. The light of a sweet, genial, loving spirit streams out from the page, 
as the mystic brightness gleamed from the gem. Mr. Hale's opening sketch of 
the author's life will be very useful and acceptable to the general reader." — 
Christian Examiner, 

"In fiction Sterling was happy but deeply philosophic, and the Onyx Ring is 
filled with gems of thought as brilliant and as enduring as any in our language. 
Read it, lover of the beautiful, the sublime, the good, — read it, moralist ; it con- 
veys a thousand golden ideas, and having read it you will appreciate his charac- 
ter." — Intelligencer. 

" Those who are not acquainted with Sterling need not hesitate to buy this 
beautiful creation of his brilliant mind." — F. D. Huntington, in Monthly Magazine. 

EDMOND ABOUT. 

Tolla, a Tale of Modem Rome. By Edmond About. 1 vol. 
16mo. Cloth. .75 

" With the glow and passion of Roman life in every page, dealing with a point 
of morals hard to describe without passing the proper boundaries of domestic 
romance, this story is as pure in tone as the ' Yicar of Wakefield.' " — London 
^thencBum, 

*' In style, tone, and incident, it assimilates with the more artistic and pure 
school of romance ; a deep candor of feeling, and a chaste simplicity rare in 
French writers, make ' Tolla ' worthy of a place beside ' Picciola,' * Monaldi,' 
* The Onyx Ring,' and other select works of narrative, grace, and beauty. No 
analysis of the story would convey an idea of its quiet charm, which can only 
be fully realized by a perusal of the whole." — Transcript. 

'* Tolla is the incarnation of all that is gentle, sweet, holy, and lovable. It is 
a character to be remembered when one forgets the fictions of a lifetime. We 
venture to assert, that not one who reads this charming work will ever forget 
the character of Tolla. It is admired with the same feeling with which we gaze 
upon the portrait of a Madonna, — it is recollected as of earth, but yet having 
something akin to Divinity." — Evening Gazette. 

" In its delicacy and affectionate simplicity it almost takes rank with St. Pierre's 
world-loved Paul and Virginia." — JVew York Courier. 

J. G. LOCKHART. 

Ancient Spanish Ballads, Historical and Romantic. Translated, 
with an Introduction and Notes, by J. G. Lockhart. With a Bi- 
ographical Notice. 1 vol. 16mo. Cloth. .63 

RICHARD HILDRETH. 

The White Slave, or ]\Iemoirs of a Fugitive. 8 Engravings. 12mo. 
Cloth. 1.00 

MRS. CORNELIUS. 

The Young Housekeeper's Friend: or, A Guide to Domestic Econo- 
my and Comfort. By Mrs. H. M. Cornelius. 12mo. Half cloth. .38 
Same work, cloth. .50 

Mrs. Eliza Farrar, the author of the " Young Ladies' Friend," in a notice of 
this book, says : " A person wholly ignorant of household affairs may, by a 
diligent perusal of this book, become an accomplished housekeeper, and even 
practical housewives will find this a valuable hand-book. I expect to profit by 
its counsels, and intend that those who cook for me in future shall take it for 
their manual." 

WILLIAM A. ALCOTT. 

The Young Woman's Book of Health. By William A. Alcott, 
Author of ''Youn 2^ Man's Guide," &c. 12mo. Cloth. .75 



WHITTEMORE, NILES, AND HALL'S NEW PUBLICATIONS. 3 



1.00 



JOTHAM SEWALL. 

Memoir of the Rev. Jotham Sewall, of Chesterville, Maine, with a 
Portrait. By his Son, Rev. Jotham Sewall. 12mo. Cloth. 1.00 

EMERSON DAVIS, D.D., AND MARK HOPKINS, D.D. 

The Half-Century: or, A History of Changes that have taken 
place, and Events that have transpired, between 1800 and 1850. By 
Emerson Davis, D. D. With an Introduction, by Mark Hop- 
kins, D.D. 

JOHN WARE, M.D. 

Hints to Young Men on the True Relation of the Sexes. By John 
Ware, ]\I. D. Prepared at the request of a Committee of Gentle- 
men. 18mo. Flexible cloth. .26 

SAMUEL LEECH. 

Thirty Years from Home. Being the Experience of Samuel Leech 
in the British and American Navies, the Merchant Service, &c. 
4 Engravings. ISmo. Cloth. '38 

L. C. MUNN. 

The American Orator : with an Appendix, containing the Decla- 
ration of Independence, with the fac-simile of the Autographs of the 
Signers ; the Constitution of the United States ; Washington's Fare- 
well Address, and fac-similes of the Autographs of several hundred 
distinguished Individuals. By L. C. Munn. Third Edition. 12mo. 
Cloth. 1.00 

DAILY FOOD FOR CHRISTIANS. 

Being a Promise and another Scriptural Portion for every Day in 
the Year. 

Best edition, with a steel plate, cloth, paper title, .10 

" " " *' " " gilt back, .15 

" » " " " " gilt edges, gilt sides, .20 

" " Four steel plates, cloth, full gilt, and gilt edges, .31 

" " " " " morocco, .38 

THE HARPSICHORD, OR UNION COLLECTION 
OF CHURCH MUSIC. 

By Leonard ]\Iarshall, and Henry N. Stone. .75 

(IN PREPARATION.) 

A NEW COLLECTION OF CHURCH MUSIC. 

By Leonard Marshall, Author of " The Harpsichord." 
THE SACRED OFFERING. 

A Tableau of Remarkable Incidents in the Old and New Testa- 
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Writers. With Illustrations. Large 12mo. Morocco, extra. 1.60 

A most beautiful gift-book for all seasons. 



4 WHITTEMORE, NILES, AND HALL'S NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



JUVENILE, 

ELIZA LEE FOLLEN. 

Twilight Stories. A New Series of Stories for Children. By Mrs. 
FoLLEN, Author of " Nursery Songs." With Illustrations from De- 
signs by Billings. 6 vols. Neatly bound and put up in box. 1.50 

Or separately, 25 cents each ; viz. True Stories about Dogs and 
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^' Mrs. Pollen's gifts as a writer for the young have been long acknowledged, 
and highly appreciated," — Salem Register. 

JULIA KAVANAGH. 

Saint-Gildas, or the Three Paths. A Story for Boys. By Julia 
Kavanagh, Author of "Nathahe." With Illustrations. 16mo. 
Cloth, gilt. .63 

" A very interesting juvenile tale by one of the most popular female writers of 
modern times." — JSTew York Commercial Advertiser. 

ANNA HARRIET DRURY. 

The Blue Ribbons. A Story of the Last Century. By Miss Dkury, 
Author of " Friends and Fortune." With Illustrations. 16mo. 
Cloth, gilt. .50 

" This is the history of a little French boy, who raised flowers to sell, and 
whose grandmother had told him so many Fairy Stories, that he was always 
wishing and hoping that a Fairy would appear to him, and give him some charm 
that would relieve his sweet sister, and poor, old, infirm grandmother, of the sore 
load of poverty that rested upon them. One day he was walking in the royal 
woods, and thinking (aloud) of what he would do if a Fairy should appear, when 
suddenly the beautiful Q-ueen Marie Antoinette appeared before him, with a 
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follow a great many pretty incidents, and some sad ones, all charmingly told, 
and the story ends at last very happily for everybody, except the poor, beautiful, 
unfortunate Clueen Marie Antoinette." — Little Pilgrim. 

LIZZIE AMORY. 

Little Paul and other Stories. By Lizzie Amoey. With Illus- 
trations. 16mo. Cloth, gilt. .38 
" Containing seven highly interesting stories for children, told in an unambi- 
tious style, and inculcating sound moral precepts." 

THOMAS BINGLEY. 

Tales of Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea. By Thomas Bingley. 
With Illustrations. 18mo. Cloth, gilt. .31 

ANNE W. ABBOTT. 

The Evergreen Chaplet. A Collection of Tales for Children. By 
Anne W. Abbott. With Illustrations. ISmo. Cloth, gilt. .31 

T. D. P. STONE. 

Stories to Teach me to Think. A Series of Juvenile Tales. By 
T. D. P. Stone. With Illustrations. ISmo. Cloth, gilt. .31 

THE LIVES OF CELEBRATED CHILDREN. 

Abounding in interesting Historical Events. ISmo. Cloth, gilt. .31 



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